You're Out
by LoganAlpha30
Summary: Completed!The sequel to Second Chances and Three Strikes. It's been a long time coming but I hope that you all like it. Chapter 10 Up!
1. Default Chapter

YOU'RE OUT 

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the new ones that I created like Hope.**

**Author's Note: Extremely sorry for taking so long to update this story but I just got so busy writing the others that this one just got pushed back. I'm going to have about three to five chapters done before I post any of them. Once again sorry for the wait and I hope that you all love this story as much as the previous two in this trilogy…of sorts.**

**CHAPTER 1-WHAT'S OLD IS NEW AGAIN**

She rolled over in bed and unintentionally shoved him off and over the edge. Even though the bed was a king sized one Wesley had woken up more than once lying on the hardwood floor of their bedroom. Faith had picked the house out, mostly because it had a large backyard, something that she said would be perfect for a growing family. But when questioned about that she had changed the subject. It was less than a year after Hope had been born, and only three weeks after the end of the appeal process for the news reporter after she had lost the initial trial, when Faith had slipped a note into one of Wesley's books that nearly made him choke on his lunch later that day. He had left work that day and rushed home to find Faith just putting Hope down for a nap. She had given birth to Dominic several months later and once again Angel and Cordelia were named as godparents. Cordelia had been ecstatic but the birth of his second godchild had only served to further remind Angel just how impossible his situation with Cordelia seemed.

To a degree the birth of not one but two children had mellowed Faith out a bit. She still went out at night, although certainly not every night and she would only dance alone. One night she had come home with a fair amount of blood on her blouse, later revealing that it was from a man that hadn't taken her first no for an answer. Luckily for most others Faith had been able to calm her temper and act civilly, except when her children came into play. She wasn't one to make anyone include her children in anything unless she felt that they were being excluded. In fact on one night when Dominic was only a few days old one of the orderly's had made a crack about how he thought that Dominic's head was a bit big and Faith had put him in a headlock and nearly popped his head off before Wesley and Angel had managed to calm her down. Not wanting to sit still Faith had, with Wesley's help, returned to school via correspondence and after much effort had successfully passed enough tests to get her G.E.D. She had thought about taking some college classes but she decided that Hope and Dominic took precedence at this point in her life, marveling that she herself was no longer her main focus in life and it truly didn't bother her.

"Faith…not again," Wesley groaned with a still half asleep look on his face, keeping his voice low so that he wouldn't wake up either Hope or Dominic, as he pushed himself up and off of the hardwood floor and back into bed.

"Sorry…don't know my own strength," Faith mumbled softly into her pillow as Wesley slid back underneath the covers and she rolled over so that her head was resting on his shoulder.

"No…you don't," Wesley mumbled back in reply before he yawned deeply and joined his wife in a peaceful slumber, at least for another hour before Dominic would wake up balling his full head off and get both of them up hours early for the day ahead.

Oz rummaged around in the glove box, looking for his sunglasses. The day had dawned a tad overly bright and sunny for someone with enhanced vision and he was already running late. He had agreed to meet Willow at work an hour early to discuss a recent rash of deaths that seemed to be mystical in nature. Only the night before had been the last night of the full moon cycle and he had slept in a bit to long. He had tried to meditate and refrain from transforming into a werewolf but the day had been to stressful and he had been unable to stay calm. He had barely been able to make it to the cage in the basement of his house when the transformation had overtaken him.

"You're late," Willow said with an unimpressed frown on her face as Oz walked into the squad room and dropped his things onto his desk. The new unit had been given an entire wing of the newly built police headquarters, partially due to the fact that there were few of the other officers that wanted anything to do with the demons and other creatures that were brought in nearly every night. Angel had helped make sure that each of the cells had been properly designed to contain a wide array of demons and vampires and others. Willow and others had spent months casting spell after spell on the wing of the jail, hoping to leave no magical stone unturned or uncovered so that anything or anyone could use it to escape.

"I had a bad night," Oz mumbled back with a tired yawn as he walked away from his desk and towards the full pot of coffee.

"That's the third one this week, anything you want to talk about," Willow offered up with a concerned tone to her voice as she sat up in her chair and laid the report that she had been reading down onto her desk.

"Not really, so how did Tara like the new daycare lady," Oz mumbled back through another yawn as he poured himself a full cup of coffee and lightly leaned onto the counter.

"She seemed fine when I left, but ever since I've been this close to racing over there and picking her up, is it supposed to be this hard to leave her with someone else for the day," Willow replied with a shrug of her own shoulders as she tried her best to appear calm before the worry and fear in her heart crept in and Oz did his best to keep from smiling. Tara's birth had gone smoothly and ever since that day Willow had mothered her endlessly, nearly flying off the handle the first time that she had gotten an infection.

"Yeah…I think so, especially given that her new babysitter isn't a member of any witches coven or a good friend of ours," Oz shot back with a warm smile on his face as he twirled the promise ring around on the ring finger on his right hand. It wasn't a wedding ring, something that he had decided that he would probably never get, but when it came to Willow it was about as close to one as they were ever going to get. Not wanting to try and get her to drastically change her lifestyle they had agreed to live together and raise their daughter together but had agreed that if anyone special came along for either that they wouldn't stand in the way. That day had been shortly before Tara's birth. Neither had been out on a date since Willow's seventh month of pregnancy. Neither would talk about it but their had been an unwritten bet going around the office that the two were now stuck together forever.

"I don't know, I still think that we should have asked Buffy if," Willow started to wonder with a deep in though look on her face before Oz walked over and stopped her with a hand on hers.

"Buffy and Spike have their own troubles with Joyce remember, she's still having problems sleeping through the night," Oz reminded her with a warm smile on his face before he took a sip of coffee and sat down at his desk across from her as their desks faced each other.

"Well what do they suspect with the hours that they keep, a mother who's used to being up all day and asleep all night and a father who's used to being asleep all day and awake all night, the poor girl can't make up her mind," Willow grumbled back with an unhappy pout on her face as she sat back in her seat and crossed her arms, staring off into space in the process.

"That's not exactly true Willow, neither one of them keep what one would call…normal hours, Joyce will just need some more time and she'll be fine, trust me," Oz countered with a joking grin on his face as he sat up in his seat and set his coffee cup down onto a coaster that Willow had insisted that he use.

"I hope you're right, now though we should get down to business, we've had five deaths in the last two weeks, all of them mysterious and more than likely with supernatural killers," Willow said with a forced look of calm on her face as she pulled a couple of files from her in pile and handed them across the desks to Oz, who took one long sip of coffee and then opened them up. Inside were pictures of dead bodies, not something that was out of the ordinary. But what he found odd about the pictures was that each and every one of them didn't appear to have a scratch on them, in fact they looked like the definition of healthy, if not for the whole being dead aspect.

"Cause of death," Oz asked casually as he began to flip through the many pictures and glance at their names and ages.

"That's the funny part Oz, the coroner couldn't find one, he said that from he could see there's no reason why these people aren't still alive," Kate said with a frustrated look on her face as she and Groo walked into the squad room and sat down.

"Do you think that the playpen would go better over by the window or…over there by the door," Cordelia asked with a very worried look on her face as she stood in the doorway of the small converted nursery with one hand on her hip and the thumb of her other hand between her teeth as she was beyond nervous. Instead of finding a babysitter Faith and Wesley had decided to take Angel's advice and bring Hope and Dominic with them to work. Angel had said that it would help them to save money but soon both had begun to believe that it was more that Angel wanted to see more of his godson and goddaughter. One night Faith had spied Angel using Cordelia's credit card to order several items for Hope and Dominic. She had very nearly blown his cover but had decided against it when she had seen how cute Hope was in the little pink dress that he had ordered for her. After that Cordelia had changed all of her credit card numbers and kept them where Angel couldn't find them.

"It's only a playpen Cordy, I doubt it really matters," Angel replied with a bored sigh as he stared at the pieces around him. He had sworn that he would put all of the toys together in the new nursery but he had gotten in on his head when he had ordered a miniature swing set and after putting it fully together found that he had a few extra pieces. But rather than read the directions or ask for help he had simply taken it entirely apart and set about it again.

"It matters a lot buster, if it's near the window then it could get drafty and that wouldn't be good for Hope or Dominic, but if it's near the door then someone might hit it on the way in," Cordelia countered with a very deep in thought look on her face as she continued to half chew on her thumb and look back and forth between the spot beside the door and the spot by the window.

"Why don't we just ask Wes and Faith, where are they anyway," Angel said back with a tired look on his face as he turned away from Cordelia so that she wouldn't see him roll his eyes at how much of a fuss she was putting up over a simple playpen.

"Because we're supposed to be helping to take some of the burden off of them, being parents is hard," Cordelia replied with a very serious look on her face as she took her thumb out of her mouth and lightly glared down at Angel.

"And you would know this how exactly," Angel asked with a sly grin on his face as he turned back to Cordelia before he closed his eyes tightly just moments before he was struck in the face by a pink and purple pillow from across the room.

"Funny Angel, real funny…Wes and Faith are downstairs in the training room with Hope and Dominic, trying to get a workout in," Cordelia said with a sarcastic frown on her face as she batted away Angel's weak attempt at throwing the pillow back at her before the two fell into a pointless argument.

"You've done well so far luv, but your luck is about to run out," Wesley said with a very determined and confident grin on his face as he slowly circled around Faith. She stood as still as a statue in the middle of a large circle, blindfolded, as she had to resort to using her other senses to defend herself. Hope and Dominic lay in a playpen several feet away and Hope watched her parents with giggles every time that Wesley landed hard on his back after Faith had blocked his attack, though Dominic was more interested in the mobile hanging overhead. Instead of the usual puppies and kitties Lorne had found them a mobile with small swords, clubs, and daggers all made out of a soft plastic that glinted brightly when a light was shown onto it.

"That's what you said the last five times Wes, and each and every time you wound up on your back, this time won't be any different," Faith shot back with a sly smirk on her face as she only moved her mouth.

"True…but this time will be," Wesley started to counter with an excited expression on his face as he rushed forward before Faith snapped into action, grabbing his arm and flipping him over her shoulder and down onto his back on the mat below, getting a gleeful giggle from Hope.

"And the crowd goes wild," Faith exclaimed loudly, with a slight bit of mocking in her voice, as she let go of Wesley's arms and looked like she was receiving a round of applause from a non existent crowd.

"Not for long," Wesley mumbled back with a sly grin on his face before he swept around in a kick, taking Faith's legs out from under her from behind as she fell hard on her back.

"Ow Wes…fu…," Faith grunted out in some pain as she grimaced a bit and then accepted Wesley's offer of help back up to her feet.

"See Hope, daddy got mommy good didn't he, now watch daddy…," Wesley started to say to his young daughter, whose attention was concentrated completely and totally on her parents, as he grabbed Faith's arm and tried to flip her over his shoulder, but she surprised him. Unfairly using her slayer strength Faith blocked Wesley's attempt at flipping her over and instead turned the move back onto him, flipping him once again over her shoulder and flat onto his back on the mat.

"See that Hope, mommy blocked daddy's attack and flipped him again…and now mommy's going to have to punish daddy," Faith said as she looked over at Hope and Dominic with an energized grin on her face, while still holding onto Wesley's arm, before she let his arm fall and leapt on top of him, straddling him.

"Now watch mommy and daddy…," Wesley started to say softly with a determined look on his face before Faith took their sparring session a different way and leant down and kissed him, not fighting back when he reached around and pulled her harder into the kiss.

"Scar my godson and goddaughter for life and give them nightmares that'll take years of therapy to work through," Cordelia interrupted with a mock look of disgust on her face as she stepped off of the bottom step and onto the mat covered floor. Faith growled her displeasure through the kiss before she sat up, still straddling Wesley, and turned to face the former cheerleader.

"Cordy," Faith mumbled with an unhappy pout on her face as she took in a deep breath and tried not to look like she wanted to strangle her.

"Hi Fred," Wesley added through exhaling a deep breath as he slightly nodded his head, but made no move to get Faith off of him.

"Hi…uh we're not interrupting anything important are we," Fred stammered out with an embarrassed and nervous smile on her face as she lingered on the bottom step.

"No…nothing important," Wesley softly replied with an anxious and awkward smile on his face as Faith cast him a quick glare before she stood up and walked over to get her towel, without offering him help back up to his feet.

"You sure," Fred asked with a nervous tone to her voice as she watched the exchange between Wesley and Faith with some trepidation.

"He's sure, so was there something actually important that you two wanted to talk to us about or did you just interrupt us for the hell of it," Faith demanded with an accusing edge to her voice as she picked up her towel and began to dab at the sweat on the back of her neck.

"Angel and I are getting the nursery together and wondered if you wanted the playpen near the door or near the window, it's pretty drafty near the window but by the door leaves it open to the possibility that someone will run into it if they forget that it's there," Cordelia replied with a cautious look on her face as she felt that she had to tread lightly with what she said given Faith's current disposition.

"Well Hope's already had a cold twice this year so it'd probably be best if you didn't put the playpen near the window, and since we don't usually rush into the nursery I believe that by the door will be best," Wesley answered with a thoughtful look on his face as he got back up to his feet, watching Faith the whole way, as she continued to use the towel to dry off.

"Faith…," Fred mumbled softly as she looked from Wesley to the former rogue slayer in hopes that she would agree and not become angry.

"He's right, the last thing we need is for Hope to get another cold, then Nicky will get one and I don't look forward to staying up all night with him like we had to do with Hope," Faith said back with a distant, but much more reserved and calm, look on her face as she set the towel down and half turned back to only briefly glance back at Fred and Cordelia.

"Okay, remember though tonight's the big policeman's ball, we've already told Willow and Oz that we're all coming so don't even think about backing out now, Gunn and Groo are going to pick up our dresses in an hour and I know how long it takes for you two to get ready so I thought that I'd be nice and give you a head start," Cordelia added with an optimistic and hopeful smile on her face as she looked back and forth between the couple and tried not to set them off.

"Fine, I smell like shi…I need a shower," Faith started to grumble back under her breath with a frustrated sigh on her face as she turned to pick up a fussing Dominic but stopped herself before she swore in front of her children, something that she had sworn never to do.

"Thank you Cordelia, and don't worry, we'll be ready on time for the ball, Faith has been looking forward to it for weeks and I can't wait to pull her out onto the dance floor and show her that there is a form of dancing besides…," Wesley started to say politely with a calm smile on his face as he walked over and picked up an eager Hope before briefly glancing over at Faith, who was busy using the edge of her towel to wipe away some drool off of Dominic's chin.

"We'll be there," Faith said with a calm but unhappy frown on her face as she turned around and headed up the stairs.

"Ah the joys of marriage," Wesley said with a cheesy grin and deep sigh before he shrugged his shoulders and nodded to first Fred and then Cordelia and followed Faith up the stairs and out to the car.

END OF CHAPTER ONE


	2. Never A Dull Moment

YOU'RE OUT 

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Hope and Dominic.

**CHAPTER 2-NEVER A DULL MOMENT**

"Just say it, whatever it is, you're obviously upset about something," Wesley said with a concerned look on his face as he slowed down and stopped at a red light, giving him a chance to glance over at Faith, who was staring lazily out of the window.

"I'm fine," Faith mumbled back in reply with a distant look on her face as she continued to stare out of the window.

"No Faith you're not, I know you well enough to know that, I know that you didn't appreciate Cordelia and Fred's interruption but you have to know that they didn't mean anything by it," Wesley said back softly as glanced up through the heavily tinted top portion of the windshield, waiting for the light to change colors.

"I know they didn't mean anything by it, it's just that…there's a part of me that wants to scream and there's a part of me that's angry because of the other part, I have everything that I ever wanted, loving husband, two kids, a stable home, but still…," Faith finally answered softly with a tremble in her voice after staying silent for several moments as the light changed and Wesley pressed on the accelerator.

"But still you're scared that you've got it so good that something or someone's going to come along and take it away from you," Wesley posed the question aloud with a concerned and worried look on his face as he glanced over at Faith, but this time she glanced back at him, nodding ever so slightly.

"Or I'll do something to mess it all up," Faith said back softly with a scared look Wesley's way before she started to turn back towards the window.

"I won't let that happen, and besides luv, you're not the same person that you used to be, I didn't marry a coward, I married the most beautiful, strong, passionate, and loyal woman that I've ever met," Wesley said back with a very serious and sincere tone to his voice before he took a hold of Faith's left hand and brought it up to his mouth and kissed the back of it.

"Cut the overly romantic bull Wes, I'm barely treading water here, I don't know what I'm doing, I don't know how to be a mother," Faith shot back with a nervous and uncomfortable scowl on her face as she ripped her hand back out of Wesley's grasp and tried not to look at him.

"Stop it Faith, stop it right now, do you think that anyone is ever ready to be a parent, compared to our parents so far I'd say that we're doing great, and you should have more confidence in yourself, doubting yourself isn't something that's reserved for slayers alone Faith, everyone doubts themselves at one time or another, all that matters is how you deal with that doubt, and you're to strong to be consumed by yours, besides…I won't let you," Wesley said back with a very certain and determined expression on his face as he reached out and grabbed a hold of Faith's hand once again but held on tight and made sure that she didn't immediately pull it free. Faith looked like she was ready to argue the point but then the fight seemed to go completely out of her and she settled down and let out a deep breath before speaking.

"Thanks," Faith mumbled with an embarrassed half smile on her face as Wesley pulled the car into their drive, put it into park, and then turned off the ignition.

"Don't mention it, besides someday Hope's going to want to be the coolest girl in school and I have a horrible fashion sense," Wesley remarked back with an amused grin on his face as he undid his seatbelt and turned to Faith.

"Shut up while you're ahead okay," Faith muttered back sharply under her breath with a contagious smile on her face before she slid out of her seatbelt and pulled Wesley into a fiery kiss, not caring about the grossed out look on Hope's face as it happened.

1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111

"Where are they, the limo's almost here," Cordelia demanded with an unhappy and impatient scowl on her face as she checked the clock on the wall, for the twelfth time in the last fifteen minutes, before she turned back to Angel.

"They'll be here Cordy, it was hard enough for them to get Dawn to come up from Sunnydale to watch Hope and Dominic," Angel replied calmly with a subdued smile on his face as he tried to keep Cordelia calm, something that was becoming increasingly difficult as the moment of departure to the party was fast approaching.

"I called over there a half an hour ago and Wes said that Faith was just getting out of the shower and he was already putting his vest on, so they should be here any minute," Fred added with her usual hopeful and optimistic zeal as she hiked up her dress just enough so that she didn't step on it on her way down the stairs. She had chosen her dress because she had said that it made her feel like a fairy princess. It was a calming dark brown that did its best to trick the eye into thinking that her neck wasn't as long as it looked like it was. Cordelia had chosen a dress similar to the one that she had worn to the theater the night that Groo had shown up unexpectedly, although this time both had actually paid for their dresses with the full intent of keeping them. Angel and Gunn had gone to the old standards, but only because Fred and Cordelia hadn't given them any other choice in the matter.

"Knowing Faith she'll probably show up in some skintight barely there number that looks like it came off the discount rack," Cordelia joked with a sarcastic smirk on her face as she pushed a bouncy curl back off of her face.

"Vera Wang actually, and it's not to revealing, I am a mother now you know, got standards to keep, impressionable young ones at home," Faith interrupted with an almost amused tone to her voice as she walked through the Hyperion's front doors as Wesley was holding them open for her. Both Angel and Gunn stood up at her entrance, desperately trying to not to be to amazed at how good she looked.

"Faith, you look," Angel started to say with a happy smile on his face as he slowly nodded his head approvingly.

"Fine," Gunn added with an equally happy smile on his face as he took a step back and then turned to Fred to see her reaction, however it wasn't exactly what he expected.

"Thanks, I look damn good for a twenty five year old with two kids huh," Faith said back with an excited and proud smile on her face as she turned sideways and picked a hair off of the hip of her ankle length dark emerald gown. Her shoulders were bare leaving the top of the dress to be anchored by looping around her neck, plunging down her back, showing off a well-toned body. In front enough cleavage was showing to get noticed but also enough for those people to be aware that it was look but don't touch. Her hair was put up in the back slightly, leaving a tower for ringlets of chocolate tresses to cascade down her neck and shoulders to the small of her back, almost as low as her dress was cut in back.

"I'll say," Angel said with an appreciative smile on his face as he sat gently on the back of the chair and crossed his arms.

"Idiot," Cordelia mumbled angrily under her breath before she smacked Angel on the shoulder and started off towards the kitchen, leaving Angel to look completely confused and silently ask everyone else to explain to him what happened.

"Smooth move Angel, couldn't have done it better myself," Gunn added with a sly grin on his face before he walked over to Fred and gave her a quick kiss.

"A word of advice Angel…," Wesley started to say with an amused smirk on his face before he leaned in close and whispered the rest into Angel's ear. The look on Angel's face changed as he listened, starting off as confused before changing to one of frustration and then a bit of anger.

"I'll be right back," Angel said with an embarrassed expression on his face before he smiled and then left the room, following Cordelia's course out of the room.

"What did you say to him," Fred asked with a nervous look on her face as she walked over and sat down on the circular sofa.

"I just told him what he did wrong," Wes answered with a sly smirk on his face before he turned and helped Faith to steady herself as she hiked up her dress and walked down the steps into the lobby.

"How'd he take it," Faith asked with a sly wink as she let Wesley pull her close and slink an arm around her waist.

"About as well as you did when I told you that you couldn't smoke anymore," Wesley joked with a sly grin as he looked down at the scowl on his wife's face before he added, "From the looks of how fast he hurried out of here I'd say…rather well."

"You'd think that by now he'd be an expert at almost everything," Fred said with a curious expression on her face as she glanced up at the clock.

"Well two hundred and fifty or so years is nothing in trying to figure out the opposite sex, men have been trying to do that ever since the beginning of time," Wesley started to say with an amused smirk on his face before Faith broke in and finished his sentence.

"And I think it's safe to say that after all of that time men are still no closer to understanding women than they were when they started," Faith finished with an equally amused smirk on her face as Wesley laid her shawl across her shoulders.

"Right on," Fred added with a gleeful grin on her face before she couldn't help but start to laugh at how odd her outburst had seemed to be.

"That's my girl, one surprise after another," Gunn said into the odd silence with an awkward grin on his face before he stopped as he saw Fred's smile turn into a pout.

"We should get going, the limo will be here any minute, someone should get Angel and Cordelia," Wesley interjected with a slightly nervous look on his face as he directed his gaze towards Gunn, hoping to help his friend out of a jam and get the night moving again.

"I'll go, hopefully they haven't progressed to the throwing phase of their fights, Cordy can sure…," Gunn started to say with a slightly nervous smile on his face before Faith leaned away from Wesley slightly and cut him off.

"Just go," Faith interjected with a lightly stern frown on her face, mostly in a way that gave Gunn little doubt that it was an order and not a simple suggestion.

"Right," Gunn said with a somewhat nervous and unsure expression on his face before he stepped away and walked out of the lobby while Wesley pulled his arm from around Faith's waist and walked over to the counter to call Dawn and make sure that everything was going okay.

"Nice dress, looks a little tight though" Fred said with an excited and warm smile on her face as Faith walked over and sat down on the couch beside her.

"Thanks, it is, after what happened at last years policeman's ball with that dress that was a little to big for me…," Faith started to say back with a warm smirk on her face as she adjusted her shawl and glanced over at Wesley, who was explaining something to Dawn over the phone.

"What happened last year," Fred asked with a surprised and concerned look on her face as she glanced briefly at Wesley before turning back to Faith.

"Dominic, everything fine at home" Faith replied with a sly grin as she raised both eyebrows enough for Fred to get the joke and not be confused before she changed the subject as Wesley hung up the phone and walked back over towards them.

"Yeah, Dawn couldn't find Dominic's favorite toy and Hope wanted to watch Cinderella and Dawn didn't know where it was," Wesley replied with a slightly tired and glad to be out of the house smile on his face as he sat down beside Faith.

"God, I swear she watches that tape every single day, she's always wanting one of us to play it for her," Faith announced with an exasperated sigh at how much her daughter loved the movie Cinderella. At times Faith would take a step back and marvel at the fact that she even had a daughter, let alone a son as well. Add that to a good home and a husband that she knew truly loved her and she couldn't help but wonder how she had been so incredibly lucky. Her only hope was that her luck would continue and the new life that she had built up for herself wouldn't come crashing down on her head anytime soon, if ever.

"At least it's Cinderella and not Barney," Fred said back with an amused smirk on her face before she couldn't help but smile.

"There will be no Barney in my house," Wesley announced with a dead certain look on his face as he turned to Faith and Fred.

"Don't you mean our house Wesley, you're married remember, the house belongs to both of," Fred started to chime in with a small smile on her face before Faith jumped in.

"I'm fine with it as long as I agree with what he's saying, when I don't, then it's our house, and my way goes," Faith said with a joking laugh as Wesley's expression softened and he smiled along.

"Sometimes," Wesley stated softly with a fake look of hurt on his face before Faith leaned over and kissed him just as they could hear the limo pulling up outside.

"Someone should go tell them that the limo is here," Fred said with a slightly nervous look on her face as she looked back over her shoulder to where Gunn had went in search of Angel and Cordelia.

"Thanks for volunteering Fred," Faith stated with an overly eager smile on her face as she hopped up from the couch and began to pull Wesley towards the door, all before Fred could get a word in edgewise.

"That was mean," Wesley shot over with a sly smirk on his face even though Faith could tell that he was trying to sound like he disapproved of her actions, where in reality he agreed with it, as the two walked out the front doors of the Hyperion and Wesley helped her down the steps.

"Not really, you're the one that sent Gunn after Angel and Cordelia remember," Faith said back with an amused smirk on her face as she reached up and gently traced the line of his jaw with her fingers.

"Good point," Wesley whispered back softly under his breath with an equally amused smirk on his face before the two got into the limo and told the driver that the others would be out shortly.

111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111

"Willow doesn't have any idea what could be killing these people, they didn't have a mark on them, did you see anything like this in Pylea," Oz asked with a bored look on his face as he and Groo sat at one of the tables at the far side of the ballroom and did their best to avoid Kate and Willow who would undoubtedly want them to dance.

"I am sorry, but I do not recognize this manner of killing, in Pylea other than the priests nothing killed without leaving marks and scars on the body," Groo replied softly with a look of regret on his face as he looked over at Oz and shook his head.

"It was worth a shot, I just hope that these few deaths don't continue, otherwise people will panic thinking that there's a serial killer on the loose, and just make our jobs that much more difficult," Oz said back with a tired sigh as he leaned back in his chair and stared out at the dance floor where many couples, Angel and Cordelia and Wesley and Faith included, were dancing to a slow song that someone had requested.

"And we certainly wouldn't want that, we have enough craziness in this city already," Gunn interjected with a content grin on his face as he pulled a chair out at the table that Groo and Oz were sitting at allowing Fred to sit down.

"Not to mention that we've seen evidence that Wolfram and Hart isn't as disorganized as we thought they were, we found recruitment fliers in the nest of a group of vampires that we cleared out last week," Fred added with a nervous smile on her face before she picked up a glass of water and took a drink.

"Wonderful, and here I was thinking that everything was going our way," Oz joked with an overwhelmed frown on his face as he shook his head in dismay and rubbed his eyes.

"You are all working to hard, your emotions are all over the map," Jocelyn, her once waist length dark crimson hair cut up at her jawline in a way that reminded everyone of Cordelia in her younger days, said in a weak voice as she cautiously approached the table, looking more like a beauty queen then Connor's live in love. Her dress was the same color of her hair and came down to her knees.

"Hey Red," Gunn said with a happy smile on his face, using his nickname for Jocelyn, before he pulled the young woman into a tight bear hug.

"Nice…to see you to Charles," Jocelyn stuttered back with a nervous look on her face before Connor appeared and rescued her, leaving her to almost melt back into his protective embrace. Though not as jittery as she had once been Jocelyn had been training with Willow to try and at least alleviate some of the effects that her powers had on her. Willow would help her be able to push out the feelings and pains of those that she did not want to read while Lorne was helping her to lessen the effects on her body. She no longer woke up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night three times a week. That number had been reduced to one night a week, and as her training went on she had found it easier to get back to sleep afterwards, partially due to the change in how she slept. For most of her life she had worn a nightgown to bed. But Willow had posed the idea of sleeping, like Connor did, in the nude. She had been hesitant to try it at first but later found it helpful as the sensations of the different fabrics and materials against her skin gave her body and mind something else to focus on instead of the feelings and emotions coming from the city.

"You two having a good time," Oz asked with a relaxed smile on his face as he sat up in his chair and closed the file in front of him.

"Haven't decided yet, it's still early," Connor replied with a bored sigh as he pulled Jocelyn into a tighter embrace. Out on the dance floor Wesley and Faith were doing their best to lose themselves in one of the few free nights that they had away from Hope and Dominic.

"Having fun dear," Wesley asked softly into Faith's ear as they slowed swayed back and forth to the beat of the slow song.

"Of course honey," Faith mumbled back with a content smile on her face before she pulled Wesley down into a kiss and then laid her head on his chest.

"I'm glad, this is just what we needed right now, a night to ourselves, a night that doesn't consist of changing diapers and reading the same collection of storybooks," Wesley replied softly with a light chuckle as Faith couldn't help but laugh along at their fortune.

"And this year don't even think about a quick trip to the coat room, the last time that we did that Dominic was the result," Faith shot back with a fake look of anger on her face as she pulled back and stared up into Wesley's eyes, finding herself quickly losing herself in the twins oceans of cerulean blue.

"I remember Faith, all to well…but it was your fault for wearing that dress, which wasn't nearly as tight as this one," Wesley said back with a sly wink as his hands slid down from her waist and he separated his hands long enough to give her butt a good squeeze. Faith tried to keep her cool and shoot back a witty and sarcastic retort, but something in Wesley's voice and the look in his eyes caused her more carnal side to outbalance her more cautious side and as the song was ending she was almost literally dragging Wesley off of the dance floor faster than he could move, the two heading towards the coat room.

END OF CHAPTER 2


	3. Repeating Old Occurences

YOU'RE OUT 

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Hope and Dominic.**

**CHAPTER 3-REPEATING OLD OCCURENCES**

"Where are Faith and Wesley," Cordelia asked an hour later as she sat down at the table that Oz and Fred were sitting at, looking up at Connor, who only briefly shrugged back in reply.

"I don't know, last I saw them they were dancing to that slow song, after that though is anyone's guess," Oz answered with a relaxed shrug of his shoulders before he turned back to Willow and handed her the folder.

"They'll be okay just as long as no one leaves early and goes to get their coat," Angel said with an odd smirk on his face as Fred looked up and started to open her mouth to question him about what he meant but her mind worked quickly enough and she got the message, blushing furiously and dropping her gaze to the tabletop in front of her.

"Ugh…someone needs to sedate those two, they keep going on like this the Hyperion won't be empty for long, guess we're going to need a bigger nursery," Cordelia groaned with a slightly annoyed, but also slightly envious, expression on her face as she shook her head and glanced over towards the hallway that led to the coat room.

"Speaking of nurseries," Connor started to say with a very nervous expression on his face before Jocelyn's eyes went wide and she slammed her heel down onto Connor's toes. Cordelia pretended not to notice but both she and Fred couldn't help but avert their gazes and grin. Angel seemed to be completely clueless as to what exactly had happened just a foot from him.

"Congratulations kid," Gunn shot back with an excited grin on his face as he stood up and then patted Connor hard on the back.

"Thanks," Connor said with a nervous and slightly embarrassed smile on his face and shrug of his shoulders as Jocelyn looked to be about ready to pass out.

"Calm down Charles you're scaring them," Fred admonished Gunn with an unhappy frown on her face as she looked Gunn's way before she turned and smiled very warmly at Jocelyn. Gunn started to say something in his defense but his voice was drowned out by the excited scream from Cordelia as she leapt up to her feet and ripped a scared Jocelyn away from Connor long enough to give her a massive hug. Angel looked on in confusion as he was desperately hoping that someone would tell him what was going on.

"You're going to be a grandfather Angel," Oz joked with a sly grin on his face as he did his best to make his letting Angel in on the secret be as casual as possible, trying to keep Angel from looking any more foolish than he already did.

"I'm going to…a…wow," Angel stammered out in total shock and disbelief before the full weight of what Oz had said hit him and a very large grin appeared on his face.

"This is all your fault you know," Faith said with an unhappy scowl on her face as she crawled around on the floor while looking for one of her earrings, being careful not to tread on her dress that had been discarded on the desk when they first entered the room and locked the door behind them.

"How is this all my fault, you're the one that shoved me in here and nearly choked me out with my own tie," Wesley shot back with a slightly playful expression on his face as he picked his shirt up off of the floor as he watched Faith crawl underneath the table wearing only panties, high heels, and other assorted jewelry.

"Only because you…made me," Faith shot back with a frustrated frown on her face as she found her earring and then let Wesley help her back up to her feet.

"I did not make you do anything Faith, at least nothing that you didn't already want to do, here's your dress," Wesley said back with a sly grin on his face and wink as before he handed Faith her dress.

"Thanks, just don't do it again tonight, if we're lucky then nine months from tonight we won't be having to rush to the hospital in the middle of the night…again," Faith said with an acknowledging smile on her face as Wesley helped her slip back into her dress and he zipped her back up.

"Lightning never strikes the same place twice Faith," Wesley started to say back with a nervous sigh as Faith turned around and smiled her cocky smile up at him.

"Except you're forgetting something dear, we're not exactly normal, the usual laws of nature don't generally apply to us, freaky things happen to us all the time," Faith said back with a sly grin on her face as she put her hands on her hips and stared up at Wesley, almost daring him to dispute her claim.

"You're not wrong, however I don't think that it works that way," Wesley said with a somewhat hesitant look on his face as he dusted his coat off.

"Hope and Dominic prove you wrong Wes," Faith said with a sly and triumphant smirk on her face as she touched up her makeup in the small mirror on the wall.

"The only thing that our children prove Faith is our love," Wesley snickered back with a wide grin hidden beneath a calm look as he began to tie his tie.

"Guess I should be glad that you're not shooting blanks then huh," Faith shot back with a sly wink and grin on her face as she half turned her head towards Wesley as she zipped her small purse back up and focused on her hair.

"There hasn't been a childless male member of the Wyndam-Pryce clan in over four hundred years Faith, in fact the fewest children that any of my ancestry have had is seven, except for my father," Wesley said with a proud smile on his face before Faith stopped abruptly in the middle of getting her hair back to where she wanted it and turned to Wesley with eyes wide and a surprised and somewhat worried look on her face.

"Seven," Faith stuttered out in a gasp as her mind went reeling from the thought of having seven children.

"Don't worry Faith, I'm not aiming for that many children if that's what you're afraid of, I just thought that I should warn you in case my mother and father ever decide to visit," Wesley said back with a reassuring smile on his face before he pulled Faith into a supportive hug. He only let her go after he felt her relax and the tension leave her body.

"You okay," Angel asked softly with a nervous and slightly unsure look on his face as he slowly sat down next to Connor and handed him a beer.

"No…and I thought that you said that I was too young to drink," Connor glumly replied with a scared stupid look on his face as he looked like he was half ready to throw up.

"You are, and don't ever let me catch you drinking after tonight, but we should be celebrating so I'll let it slide tonight," Angel replied with a nervous look on his face as he shrugged his shoulders and twisted the top off of his beer.

"Okay, guess that means that I'm lucky," Connor said back with an equally nervous look on his face as he slowly twisted off the top of his own beer.

"You are, but this Connor…this is a special occasion that I never dreamt of ever seeing, you're going to be a father, and what's more that means that I'm going to be a grandfather, guess I'm old enough," Angel said with a look of disbelief on his face as he started to raise the bottle of beer to his lips but then stopped.

"What's wrong," Connor asked with a concerned look on his face as he turned his head and saw the look of deep thought on Angel's face.

"Forgot that I gave this up," Angel answered with a sheepish smile on his face before he noticed the look that Connor was giving him.

"Why," Connor asked with an interested look on his face as he slowly took a sip of the beer, wanting to learn more about his father's past.

"Because I would lose control when I drank, the demon could come out and play, I couldn't live with myself if I had done something to someone and didn't remember it, I didn't want to wake up with blood on my hands and not remember where it came from," Angel replied with a horrified at the thought of it expression on his face before he shook his head in an attempt to dispel the images and thoughts from his mind.

"Good thing that you stopped then huh," Connor joked back with a wiry grin on his face as he kept facing forward but glanced over at Angel out of the corner of his eyes.

"Yes, for both our sakes," Angel glumly agreed as he shook his head before he couldn't help but smile and begin to laugh as he clapped Connor hard on the back.

"What's so funny," Faith asked with a half smile on her face as she and Wesley walked, arm in arm, up to the table with a beer for each of them.

"I'm going to be a grandfather," Angel announced with a scared stiff smile on his face as he turned to Wesley and Faith.

"Congratulations Angel…you to Connor," Wesley said with an enthusiastic smile on his face as he leaned over the side of the table and shook Angel's hand first before shaking Connor's.

"Congrats kid, just don't ask us to baby-sit, Hope and Dominic are enough of a hassle," Faith said with a grin through a yawn before she popped the top off of her beer and took a drink.

"I think what my lovely wife is trying to say Connor is that we have our hands full taking care of Hope and Dominic and that it would be best to ask someone else to baby-sit for your son or daughter, although now that I think about it Dominic will be a little more than a year old by the time that…," Wesley started to say with a nervous smile on his face before his expression changed to one of deep thought.

"No Wesley, it's a miracle that we've done as well as we have, I don't want to jinx it," Faith edged in with a raised eyebrow and odd look at Wesley before she took another sip of her beer.

"Thanks…I think," Connor said with a confused expression on his face before he lifted his bottle up and took a drink.

"So do you know the sex yet," Wesley asked with a calmer look on his face as he leaned back in his chair and popped the top off of his beer.

"No, it's still to early, Josie said that she wanted to be surprised so I doubt that we'll know until the baby is born," Connor replied with a nervous look on his face as he slowly shook his head.

"Good idea, that way Angel won't max out anyone's credit cards before the kid is even bored," Faith mumbled out half under her breath and half as a joke with a sly smirk on her face before she was cut off.

"Hey, I only did that when Connor was born," Angel declared with a defensive scowl on his face as he sat back in his chair and crossed his arms.

"Not to change the subject but what did Oz and Willow want to talk to you about Angel," Wesley asked with a casual tone to his voice as he leaned forward slightly onto the table and looked directly at Angel and then took a quick sip of his beer.

"Nothing much, just a few unsolved murders that seemed to have a supernatural element to them," Angel replied with a calm look on his face as he shrugged his shoulders and took a packet of sugar out of the small tray on the table and began to toss it up into the air and then catch it.

"Did they need my help with anything," Wesley asked with an interested look on his face as he set his beer down on the table.

"I'm not sure, it didn't seem to be their top priority really, they seemed more interested in the baby news," Angel replied with a serious look on his face before a change in songs caught his attention. "If you three will excuse me I'm going to go find Cordy, this is her favorite song and I'll never hear the end of it if," Angel started to add with a tense smile on his face before Faith cut in with a short wave of her hand.

"Just go Angel we understand," Faith said with a laid back expression on her face before she watched Angel get up from the table and hurry off.

"Thanks," Angel said over his shoulder as he hurried off while Wesley and Faith did their best to keep from cracking up.

"I hope that they didn't give you to much trouble D," Faith said with a tired yawn as she walked back into the living room after having changed clothes and put Hope and Dominic to bed.

"Nah they were good, except for when Hope tried to dump her supper on the floor," Dawn replied with a tired smile on her face before she yawned deeply and rubbed her eyes.

"You sure that you feel up to driving all of the way back to Sunnydale tonight Dawn, you could always just crash here and call Buffy, she'd understand, it's not like it would be the first time that you'd stayed the night with us," Faith replied with a tired yawn of her own as the sounds of Wesley shutting the closet door in their bedroom filtered down the hallway and out into the living room. Their house had been only recently built and Wesley had taken great pains to make sure to extensively research the history of the sight, dutifully making sure that the property wasn't haunted or anything of the sort. Their house stood three floors high with a full basement underneath and a large barn set back away from the road on seven acres. Their house was on the edge of town and so they had small woods as a backdrop to their house. The house had originally been built to be a halfway house from drug rehab however the funding had fallen through after it was finished and Wesley had paid to have the building renovated into a home. In fact two years after buying the house the top floor was still unfinished. Wesley would work on it when he could but the demands of helping Angel rid the world of evil plus raising two young children with Faith demanded a lot of his time.

"Thanks but…on second thought I will stay here tonight, when I left Buffy seemed to want me to stay here tonight, probably because she wants some time alone with Spike," Dawn replied at first with a hesitant wave of her hand before she reconsidered and acknowledged how tired she was.

"Gee, I wonder why," Faith chimed in with a knowing grin on her face as she made her way towards the kitchen with Dawn trailing behind.

"Gee I wonder why what," Wesley asked with a tired yawn as he sat down at the table and opened up a notebook that Dawn saw was a record of the events of the day, something a lot like a journal.

"Oh nothing, just that Buffy hinted to Dawn that she wouldn't mind if Dawn stayed the night with us after watching Hope and Dominic," Faith began to answer with a tired smile on her face as she pulled out a chair next to Wesley and sat down.

"So that she can spend some time with Spike, I see," Wesley interjected with an amused smirk on his face before he started to write in the notebook.

"That's the theory dear," Faith said back with a short chuckle before she leaned up against Wesley and laid her head on his shoulder, watching what he was writing.

"Well then you're welcome to stay here tonight Dawn, there's plenty of room, the spare bedroom should be the same as it was the last time you slept here," Wesley said with a deep breath that he let out in a long sigh as he finished up what he was writing and started to lay the pen down but Faith snatched it from him and began to add something as Dawn spoke.

"Thanks, just make sure to wake me up before ten, I have to be back in Sunnydale before one tomorrow, I have a job interview and I don't want to be late," Dawn replied with a happy smile on her face as she pulled the newspaper closer and glanced at the headlines.

"An interview, who with," Faith asked softly as she finished writing whatever it was that she wrote in the notebook and then handed the pen back to Wesley.

"One of the clothing stores downtown, one of the few that I'm still allowed in," Dawn replied with a guilty and embarrassed smile on her face as she looked down and did her best to hide her face.

"You don't have to be embarrassed about it in front of us Dawn, Faith and I have both done things in our pasts that we regret and are embarrassed about, we're the last two people that are going to judge you," Wesley said with a very serious but kind tone to his voice before he turned his head abruptly and rolled his eyes at the small figure that padded into the room, leaning heavily against the wall, her mane of chocolate tresses falling down around her shoulders.

"Hope, what are you doing up, you should be in bed young lady," Faith exclaimed with an exasperated look on her face as she sat up in her chair and lightly glared down over Wesley's shoulder at their daughter.

"Tirsty," Hope mumbled very sleepily as she rubbed her eyes and looked beyond adorable as Dawn couldn't help but grin and Wesley dropped his chin to his chest and laughed.

"I'll bet you are, come here baby, momma's going to get you a glass of water and then you're going to go to sleep," Faith said back softly with only the slightest bit of sarcasm in her voice as she stood up and walked over to her daughter before picking her up and walking towards the kitchen sink.

"Is Dominic still asleep, you didn't wake him up did you," Wesley asked softly with an easy but stern look on his face as Faith and Hope passed by. Hope's only response was to weakly shake her head no while trying not to fall asleep on Faith's shoulder. "That's my girl," Wesley replied with a content smile on his face as Faith picked a small glass up out of the strainer and then filled it with cool water.

"All done," Faith asked Hope before yawning widely and turning back towards the table as Dawn slipped her watch off of her wrist.

"Yes," Hope mumbled back softly before she couldn't fight the pull of slumber any longer and her long lashed eyelids slowly fluttered closed. Faith smiled at the act before bending over just enough for Wesley to brush a soft kiss on his daughter's head. With a nod of her head towards Dawn Faith headed off towards the children's bedroom as the cell phone in Wesley's pocket began to beep.

END OF CHAPTER 3


	4. Another Is Taken

YOU'RE OUT 

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Hope, Dominic, and Jocelyn.**

**CHAPTER 4-ANOTHER IS TAKEN**

"Glad you could make it guys, we could really use your help on this one," Oz said with an appreciative smile on his face as he poured himself a cup of coffee.

"We'll forgive you as long as you never get us up this early ever again," Faith mumbled into her cup of coffee as she struggled to keep her eyes open and her slight hangover in check.

"Deal," Groo said with an amused smirk on his face as he pulled a few files out of a drawer and handed them to Wesley.

"As you can see all of these people are dead and so far not a single mark has been found on their bodies, at first we thought that they had all died of natural causes like a heart attack or something of that sort, then when the numbers started to add up Willow did a spell to see if they had died from magical causes…that came up as a big no as well," Oz explained with a calm tone to his voice as he walked back over to his desk and sat down while Wesley and Faith began to flip through the files. What Oz had said was true; none of the pictures showed any wounds and all of the autopsy reports appeared completely normal, with no discernable cause of death. In fact in most of the reports the coroner had written in that she had never seen anything like this and that she could see no medical reason why the people were not still alive.

"These autopsy reports don't really give us much to go on," Wesley said softly with a deep in thought frown on his face as he flipped through the different pages of the reports.

"Yeah and the pictures don't show anything out of the ordinary," Faith added with a tired yawn as she looked back and forth between pictures in two of the files.

"Which is why we're completely baffled, and afraid that we may have a serial killer on our hands, one that kills in some unknown way and doesn't leave a mark on the body, the perfect crime," Oz said with a very concerned frown on his face as he shook his head and then took a sip of his coffee.

"Do the victims have any sort of connection between them, they all attend the same school, same bus station or workplace," Wesley asked with a stifled yawn as he looked up from the files and looked to first Oz and then Groo.

"None that we could find, so far all of these attacks seem to be completely random," Groo answered with an unhappy frown on his face before the telephone rang and he went to answer it.

"Brought us in to help you solve the impossible eh," Faith joked with a very sarcastic smirk on her face as she shook her head and leaned back in her chair.

"Something like that, Angel said that he'd help to but you know how busy he can be with cases now that he's affiliated with the Governor's office," Oz said back with a sly wink and grin on his face as he shuffled some papers about a bit on his desk before Groo took the phone away from his ear and looked up.

"What is it," Wesley asked with a quickly serious look on his face as he noticed the look of frustration on Groo's face.

"What is it," Faith asked with a very serious look on her face as she looked up from the files and over to Groo.

"There's been another murder," Groo said with a very calm and serious look on his face before he scribbled down the address on a pad of paper and hung up the phone.

"Our car or yours," Wesley asked with a serious smirk on his face as he collected the files and then stood up.

"Ours, you don't have your badges yet," Oz replied with a nervous sigh as he opened up a drawer and pulled out his gun.

"Thought you didn't like guns," Faith stated with a slightly confused look on her face as her gaze fell fully on the weapon.

"I don't, but it was one of the things that I had to compromise on when I took this job," Oz replied with a somber and slightly anxious expression on his face as he began to strap the gun into place so as to hide it underneath his coat.

"Are they going to give us guns to," Wesley asked with a calm look on his face as he stood up and pushed his chair back in at the desk next to Groo's.

"Probably not, having a werewolf and a witch on staff is probably about as much as the chief can handle, I'm not sure how well it'd go over if the press found out that their local police force gave a convicted murderer and her accomplice a weapon," Oz replied with a sad but not angry expression on his face as he shook his head and pushed his chair in.

"It's cool, Wes has his own guns and I never really liked them anyway, I'd rather have a sword or a knife in my hands then any gun," Faith replied with a carefree smile on her face and shrug of her shoulders as she glanced briefly at Wesley before focusing her gaze on Oz.

"Good, though I wouldn't be so quick to let everyone know who you are at first, we need time for the two of you to build a reputation amongst the public, then they can learn more about you, at the moment they'd crucify both of you rather than give you a second glance," Oz said back with a nervous sigh as he turned away from his desk and fished his keys out of his pocket.

"Lucky us," Faith mumbled with a sarcastic scowl on her face as she shook her head in frustration and followed Wesley out of the squad room.

"About time you guys got here," Willow said with a frustrated and stern tone to her voice as she shook her head and stood up.

"I am sorry, I am still not fully accustomed to the lay of this land, it will not happen again," Groo said with a very apologetic look on his face as he ducked underneath the police tape and then held it up for the others.

"You let him drive again," Willow muttered softly under her breath to Oz as he could tell that she wasn't thrilled about it.

"He needs to learn his way around sooner or later Will," Oz said with a soft tone of voice as he did his best to try and calm Willow down.

"What happened," Faith asked with an impatient look on her face before she noticed the news cameras and lightly elbowed Wesley in the side and caught his attention and answered his unspoken question by glancing down at his guns. Wesley quickly shifted the sides of his coat around so that his guns were well covered.

"Nothing…and everything, okay everyone meet your new best friend, his name is Miguel Espinosa, up until about an hour ago he was just your average minimum wage earning member of society, and now he's victim number fifteen," Willow answered in a huff at first before she switched gears and introduced the motley crew to the newest victim.

"Anything new on this body that might help us," Wesley asked with a serious and calm expression on his face as he knelt down beside the body and carefully lifted the sheet up.

"With our luck Wes," Faith joked softly with an unhappy smile on her face as she squatted down beside her husband and joined him in looking underneath the sheet, with a hand on his arm for balance so that she could get a closer look.

"Sorry guys but it's just more of the same, seemingly perfectly healthy young male dead with no apparent reason why," Willow replied with a weary shrug of her shoulders as she turned away from the body and began to walk over towards her car.

"Were there any witnesses," Groo asked with a somber expression on his face as he turned his gaze away from the body long enough to scan the crowd around him.

"A few, but they all had the same story, the guy was just waiting for a bus on the corner when he just dropped dead, no warning or anything, they tried to administer c.p.r. but nothing worked, it was to late," Willow replied with an overworked frown on her face as she leaned up against her car and let out a sigh.

"He doesn't really look dead," Faith said with an odd frown on her face as she leaned in close to get a better look at then leaned back to look over at Wesley.

"You're right Faith, he doesn't…Willow, have you cast any spells on the bodies," Wesley somberly replied to Faith at first before he turned his head and looked over her shoulder at Willow.

"A spell…no, what good would that do, they're dead Wesley," Willow answered with a confused and surprised look on her face as he glanced over at an equally confused Oz before returning her gaze to Wesley.

"What are you getting at Wes," Faith asked with a very serious and interested expression on her face as she gave his thigh a light squeeze.

"I'm not sure yet, it could even turn out to be a wild goose chase, but I'm not completely convinced that these people, that Mr. Espinosa, is actually dead," Wesley replied with an unconvinced look on his face as he pulled his hand back from holding up the blanket on the body to scratch his chin as he struck a thoughtful pose.

"Care to run that by me again…but this time make sense," Oz said with a startled and confused look on his face as he stared oddly at Wesley, who slowly rose back up to his feet and pulled Faith along with him.

"There are demons that have the ability to steal the souls of their victims, leaving their victims bodies completely lifeless and effectively dead, I'm not saying that this is what we're dealing with here but I believe that it's a possibility that we should look into," Wesley replied with a unsure expression on his face as he turned first to Oz, then to Willow, and finally back to Faith, who looked deeply into his eyes, her way of judging if he was telling her the whole truth. She seemed to be satisfied and smiled slightly before silently nodding.

"I don't think that I've heard of those demons," Willow said with a deep in thought look on her face as she went back over in her head the demons that she knew of that had similar powers to the ones that Wesley was describing.

"Is there any way to reverse the attack of this demon," Groo asked with a very serious and concerned look on his face as he turned to Wesley.

"Fortunately for us there is, if this is the work of the species of demon that I'm thinking of then all that we have to do is find that demon and kill it, which though will be no small task, they have the ability to turn themselves completely invisible and then they only become visible just before they attack, and by then it'd be to late," Wesley answered with a grim look on his face as he and Faith walked towards Willow's car.

"These things got a name," Oz asked with a concerned frown on his face as he snapped the rubber band on his wrist to try and alleviate some of his nervousness and anxiety.

"Of course they do Oz, everything has a name," Wesley replied with a calm smile on his face as he pulled off his gloves and rolled them up into a ball.

"Care to enlighten us then dear," Faith joked with an impatient smirk on her face as she snapped her own gloves off and tossed them into a nearby trashcan.

"Do tell," Willow added with a softened look on her face as she let out a nervous sigh and edged a bit closer to Oz.

"They are called Tavivosh demons, they were thought to have become extinct two hundred years ago, but then about twenty years ago several of them were observed in the employ of a powerful vampire, since then though their whereabouts are a mystery," Wesley answered with a very serious tone to his voice as he recalled the entry in one of his texts about the mysterious demons.

"Were you scared," Connor asked with a nervous tone to his voice as he and Angel sat in what would become the baby's room of his and Jocelyn's small house.

"Like you wouldn't believe, having a son never entered my mind until I saw Darla standing there in the doorway, then when you were born and everyone tried to hurt you…I've never been more scared in my entire existence, not even the First or Wolfram and Hart scared me like the thought of losing you," Angel replied with a very scared look on his face as he recalled the terror that he had experienced when Connor was only a baby.

"Did the fear ever go away," Connor asked with a nervous and scared look on his face as he leaned back in his chair and stared out at the night sky.

"Nope, it never does," Angel replied with a somber smile on his face as he turned to Connor and tried not to depress him too much.

"I was afraid of that," Connor mumbled back with a deep sigh as he slowly shook his head and reached for his glass of iced tea.

"Though you're lucky Connor, you don't have the same worries that I did," Angel added with a confident expression on his face as he reached over and lightly punched Connor in the shoulder.

"Lucky…how so," Connor wondered aloud with a confused look on his face as inwardly he thought that perhaps Angel was playing a trick of some kind on him.

"Lucky because Wolfram and Hart and half a dozen other groups aren't going to be relentlessly hunting your child down, Jocelyn won't give birth in a urine soaked alley…she won't…," Angel started to answer with a proud smile on his face before at the end the memories became to painful and the smile disappeared from his face.

"Do you miss her, mom…I mean," Connor asked with an anxious look on his face as he sat up in his chair and looked over at his father.

"Every day, but not just because she was my sire, I miss…her," Angel replied softly after a few silent moments of pondering as he fought back the urge to tear up and stared out of the window at the stars in the night sky.

"Me to, it makes me mad that I never really got to know her…though given the circumstances I should be thankful that I got to know her as much as I did," Connor said back with a far off look in his eyes as he turned back to gaze out of the window.

"Darla could be…was, quite a handful," Angel said with a hint of sadness in his voice as he half turned to Connor before he was interrupted from behind by a soft voice.

"Not to mention completely evil and unredeemable until you were conceived," Jocelyn interjected softly with a tired look on her face as she walked up to the pair and then curled up on Connor's lap, with her head lying on his chest over his heart.

"Well now…okay, you got me there, but as Connor grew within her she changed, I just wish that you could have met her and gotten to know her," Angel replied with a far off look on his face before Connor reached over and turned on the radio, ending the conversation.

"I thought that Willow and Oz were together," Faith said with a tired yawn on her face as she walked back into the kitchen after putting Hope and Dominic down for the night.

"They are, but Tara's problems at daycare and this new rash of possibly magically caused killings has her on edge, she'll calm down once we find and stop the killer," Wesley replied with a tired yawn as he closed the section of the newspaper that he had been reading and set it down on the coffee table while Faith poured a couple cups of coffee.

"What problems, I thought that Willow said that Tara loved daycare," Faith asked with a surprised and concerned tone to her voice as she slowly walked into the living room, making sure to keep the two cups of coffee from overflowing, before she handed one to Wesley and carefully sat down beside him and then snuggled up close.

"Well…there really aren't any problems, they're all in Willow's head, you remember how it was when we tried to send Hope to that daycare downtown…you nearly started to sob when you had to leave her there," Wesley answered with a soft chuckle as he remembered the scene that day outside of the daycare.

"Hey now, I wasn't the only one…I remember there being tears in your eyes to," Faith shot back quickly with an impatient scowl on her face as she poked Wesley hard in the ribs before looking away and calmly taking a sip of her coffee.

"Only from…alright I'll admit it, I did tear up at the thought of letting someone else look after my little girl, the point is that we both got over it and so will Willow, we just need to give her some time," Wesley said back with at first a slightly hurt look on his face before a smile crept upon his lips and he relented.

"Meanwhile we hope that Oz has the good sense to stay out of her way, otherwise I don't even want to think of what a royally pissed off Willow would do," Faith said with a contemplative expression on her face as she stared at whatever portion of the news that was on at the moment.

"Whatever it would be it wouldn't be good I can tell you that, but enough about work, did the garage call back yet," Wesley added with a worried look on his face before he let out a sigh and changed the subject.

"No…they've had my car for over a week and every time that I call them they tell me that they're almost done and that I should be patient…I almost went down there yesterday and gave them more than a piece of my mind," Faith replied with a look of scorn on her face as she scowled heavily and almost crushed the coffee cup that she was holding before she half turned and looked up at Wesley.

"That's the last thing that you should do Faith, you'd probably put them all in the hospital before you were done, Lindsey can't keep your record clean if you keep lashing out like that," Wesley said with an almost smug smirk on his face before he brought the coffee cup up to his lips and took a small sip.

"You think that was bad, if we get a visit from the stork in about nine months I'll show you lashing," Faith threw back with an angry scowl on her face as she glared up at Wesley, though she couldn't keep the angry posture and stare for long because deep down there was a large part of her that wanted to have as many children as humanly possible, if only to undo some of the damage that had been done to her by her own mother.

"If it happens then it'll happen, we can only tempt fate so many times before we must…," Wesley started to say with a slightly uneasy tone to his voice before Faith cut in.

"Pay the piper, I love you Wesley…but sometimes you're just asking for it," Faith replied with a sarcastic scowl on her face that she couldn't hold for to long before she had to look up at Wesley. The instant that their eyes met the hilarity of the comment struck them both and they couldn't help but laugh, consequently spilling their cups of coffee onto their hands and laps.

END OF CHAPTER 4


	5. New Worries

YOU'RE OUT 

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Hope, Dominic, and Joyce.**

**CHAPTER 5-NEW WORRIES**

"Sorry to bother you so late…but I just thought of something and it couldn't wait," Willow said with an uncomfortable look on her face as she slowly walked into Wesley and Faith's house.

"Forget about it, we were still up anyway…so what's the problem," Faith said with a slight wave of her hand and gentle smile on her face as she shut the door behind Willow.

"Oz and I were talking in bed and I was just about to go to sleep when it came to me…we performed autopsies on most of the bodies…Wesley, if what you're saying about those soul sucking demons is true then…we killed those people, not the demon," Willow replied with a very scared and self loathing look on her face as she seemed to not be able to stop shaking.

"You didn't kill them Willow, if what I said is true then most of the demons victims truly are dead, even if we were to find and kill the demon, retrieving the soul is only possible if its within twenty four hours of it being taken, after that it's to late…it's not your fault," Wesley said with a very comforting and reassuring tone to his voice as he stepped forward and pulled Willow into a tight hug before she buried her face into his shoulder and let the tears, that had been threatening to fall ever since she had sat up in bed, fall.

"Yeah Will, you're not a…you didn't kill those people, you did the right thing," Faith started to try to help but stopped suddenly when she realized what she was about to say and she managed to change her response to add weight to Wesley's words.

"Faith's right, you did the only thing that you knew to do, in fact you probably saved some of them from becoming something abhorrent like zombies or golems," Wesley said with a supportive edge to his voice as he guided Willow over to the couch and set her down while Faith hurried into the kitchen to brew up a cup of the tea that Willow and Oz had given them as a housewarming present. Neither Wesley nor Faith liked the tea too much, though they knew that it was Willow's favorite, but they had never let Willow know that.

"You're probably right…but that doesn't really make me feel any better about all of this," Willow said with a tired and scared look on her face as she fiddled a bit with the tips of a few strands of her hair.

"I'm sorry Willow but I'm not sure if anything can make you feel better about this, in this line of work things happen that are terrible, things that we have no control over and wonder why they happen, you do the best that you can at the time, you make decisions given the information that you have and hope that you can live with the outcome, you didn't have any idea that those people could possibly be saved, besides didn't the department only give you the file after about half a dozen people had died, by that time it was already to late to save most of them, even if you had known about the demon there wasn't much that you could have done for them," Wesley said softly as he did his best to bolster Willow's spirits and give Faith time to complete the tea.

"Yeah Will, the only thing that we can do now is try to find that Tavivosh demon and kill it before the twenty four hour window is up for Mr. Espinosa, how much time do we got," Faith interjected with a helpful look on her face as she half stepped back into the living room and leaned her shoulder up against the doorframe with the free swinging door push halfway open.

"Not long, and I'm not even sure that we can truly track this thing, since they were thought to have gone extinct ages ago I'll have to do some research to even begin to get a bead on the demon, it could take awhile, I don't want to say this but I'm afraid it looks like Mr. Espinosa will not make it, and there's nothing that we can do to save him, unless our luck suddenly shot up," Wesley said with a grimly sarcastic smirk on his face as he sat back and turned on a small lap on the coffee table.

"Do these demons give off any sort of aura, maybe I could cast some sort of locator spell to find just the right type of aura, we do have informants that can sense negative energy, maybe they could help," Willow continued with a thoughtful pout on her face as she was desperately searching for something to help and stop the rash of deaths.

"Not from what I've read so far, sorry Willow, however they do tend to congregate around the water, though I'm not quite sure exactly why," Wesley replied with a tired yawn and nervous look on his face before Faith reentered the room with three cups of tea and handed two of them to Wesley and Willow.

"Thank you," Willow said softly to Faith with an appreciative smile on her face as Faith took her seat next to Wesley and casually overlapped her left leg over his right and began to softly bump her heel into the side of his ankle. Faith replied with a small shrug of her shoulders before she forced herself to swallow some of the tea, and did her best not to snicker when she glanced over and saw the look on Wesley's face as he downed some as well.

"Perhaps you could bring some of your materials to the station and let the tech guys give it a once over, we can scan the books into the database and maybe speed up the search, or at the very least point them in the right direction for their online searches," Willow offered with a calmer look on her face before she took a large sip of her cup of tea.

"That could work, might give Wes and I a little free time, what with more than one person looking through all of those old books," Faith said with an optimistic expression on her face as she leaned back into Wesley and took a small sip of her tea.

"If the two of you wanted some free time why did you rush into joining the department as freelance detectives, I would have understood if," Willow started to say with a nervous and upset look on her face before Faith broke in.

"Easy there Will, it was just that Wes and I haven't had a vacation in a year or so but this is more important," Faith said with an apologetic look on her face and tone to her voice as she looked straight at Willow, hoping that she would understand her point.

"Sorry, it's just that this case has me on edge, this case and Tara starting a new daycare…I've just been a mess recently," Willow said with an overstressed expression on her face before she set her cup of tea down onto the coffee table and ran her hands through her hair while sighing deeply.

"You're a single…okay partially single mother trying to raise a daughter in a shit crazy city while trying to figure out what you and Oz are to each other, and on top of that you have to run an entire section of the city's police department, you're just pushing yourself to hard, you should give yourself some credit, a lesser woman would have cracked under the pressure a long time ago," Faith replied with a supportive tone to her voice as she reached out and gave Willow's shoulder a comforting squeeze.

"Faith's right Willow, you're doing the best that you can and that's all that anyone could rightly ask of you," Wesley said softly in support of Faith's words as he nodded his head while Faith leaned back and laid the back of her head on his shoulder.

"I wish that I could believe you, but City Hall isn't happy with a lot of our work, they just don't seem to understand that the same rules that apply to humanity don't work for the supernatural world, I can't treat a demon the same way that I can a human," Willow said with a worried look on her face as she stood up and then began to nervously pace around the living room.

"Would it help if I talked to them, I could probably answer a lot of their questions about demons and the like," Wesley asked with a concerned look on his face as he set his cup of tea down on the coffee table and turned to Willow.

"I don't know if it'd do any good, all that they want is results, they could care less how we get them," Willow replied with a sad look on her face as she glanced over the headlines on the newspaper that Wesley had left on one of the other chairs.

"People with that much power are all the same, they want everything done on their timetable and done just the way they like it, even if in the end it just fucks everything up more than it already was," Faith groaned with an annoyed scowl on her face as she balled up her fist and then pounded it down hard onto the top of her thigh.

"Preaching to the choir here," Willow joked with a humorous smile on her face before she stood up and reached for her coat.

1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111

"So who do you think she looks more like, Wesley…or Faith," Fred asked with a bored look on her face as she stared straight at Hope, who was sitting on the counter in the lobby of the Hyperion with a stuffed bear in her hands.

"Definitely Faith, though she does have that odd stare of his, the one it looks like he's looking straight through you," Gunn answered with a bored stiff sigh as he reclined back on the couch and began to calmly toss a Nerf football up into the air and then catch it.

"Lucky for her then," Lindsey interjected with an amused smirk on his face as he and Elaine walked into the lobby of the Hyperion, with Elaine pushing a stroller in front of her.

"Lindsey…Elaine hey, and little Isaac," Fred said with an excited and welcoming smile on her face as she slid around the end of the counter and scooped Hope up into her arms as she made her way towards the newcomers.

"Hi Fred, Angel around," Lindsey said with a half hearted smile on his face as it was easy to tell that he was preoccupied with something and wouldn't let it go until he talked it over with Angel.

"Yeah he's in his office talking with Cordelia, she's become obsessed with remodeling the nursery," Gunn replied with a short chuckle as the images of Cordelia taking Angel's entire day up to that point up with talk of the nursery.

"I can't say that I'm surprised, seeing as how pretty much you two are the only ones without children," Elaine said with a tired sigh as she stopped pushing the stroller when she got to the circular sofa and plopped down onto it. Her newly chocolate locks held up in a hastily pulled back ponytail.

"Not for much longer," Fred said with a very smug smirk on her face as sat down on the couch beside Elaine. Across the room Gunn had tossed the football up into the air just as Fred had begun to answer and when she finished and what she had said registered in his brain the football dropped to the floor, with him frozen in place. Lindsey couldn't help but grin and then laugh at the immediate expression on Gunn's face.

"Congrats Charles," Lindsey said with a wide grin on his face as he clapped Gunn on the shoulder on his way to Angel's office while Elaine and Fred launched into a furious discussion about all things baby.

"I'm telling you Angel, we should just knock out the west wall and open up into that old ballroom…you know the one, that big one that you use for storage space now," Cordelia said with a very determined look on her face as she stood beside Angel and pointed out the position of the two rooms on the building plans that she had spread out across Angel's desk.

"But then where do I put all of my stuff, when you've been around as long as I have you tend to accumulate an awful lot," Angel said with a proud and celebratory expression on his face as he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms.

"Two hundred and fifty years of knickknacks aren't as important as the future of our godchildren and your grandson," Cordelia shot back with an unimpressed pout on her face, as she seemed to mostly ignore the hurt look on Angel's face as Lindsey walked into the office.

"And hopefully someday your own as well," Lindsey added with a calm smile on his face as he stopped just behind the chairs in front of Angel's desk and slipped his hands into his pockets, casually awaiting Angel and Cordelia's reply.

"That's the dream," Angel mumbled softly under his breath in reply as though he wasn't entirely thrilled to see Lindsey he was glad for the interruption from the two hours of arguing over the nursery with Cordelia.

"So Lindsey…what brings you here today, Elaine finally wise up and kick you out of the house," Cordelia stated with a warm but sarcastic smile on her face as Lindsey returned the smile and laughed before answering.

"You wish Cordy, no…I need to talk to Angel about something important…so if you wouldn't mind," Lindsey replied with an amused smirk on his face before he nodded his head towards the doorway. Cordelia looked about ready to argue fiercely for a moment but then shrugged her shoulders and began to roll up the maps on Angel's desk.

"Fine, if you boys want to talk then I'll just get out of your way, though Angel don't think that this means that we're even close to done talking about the nursery, you can't put it off forever," Cordelia said with a very serious and impatient look on her face as she picked the maps and other materials up and then headed out of the office as Lindsey held the door open for her.

"That woman is something else," Angel said with an amused look on his face as he watched Cordelia go before he turned back to Lindsey just as the latter let the door shut.

"Tell me about it, but unfortunately I'm not here to talk about her, Kate called me yesterday afternoon and told me about what was happening with the rash of recent deaths, she's still stuck in Washington trying to calm some lawmakers nerves about what she and her team does so she asked me…and thereby you, to look into the matter for her," Lindsey said with a serious look on his face as he walked further into the office and then casually sat down in one of the chairs.

"Willow showed me the file at the policeman's ball, I've never seen anything like it before, what am I supposed to do about the deaths," Angel asked with a nervous and concerned look on his face as he rearranged the papers on the top of his desk and waited for Lindsey to enlighten him.

"Well the obvious answer would be to stop them wouldn't it, or have you given up being the hero for hire and gone into the daycare business," Lindsey replied with his usual cocky smirk before he leaned forward in his chair just long enough to grab one of the knickknacks off of Angel's desk and then sit back.

"Sometimes I'm glad that I can't have any kids, if Wesley and Faith have any more then I'll have to seriously think about hiring someone full time just to watch them, with our new status with the LA police department I just don't feel safe letting Hope and Dominic go to a regular daycare, Willow and Oz are trying a normal one with Tara but I don't know how long that'll last," Angel replied with a very serious and nervous look on his face as he sat back in his chair and stared briefly up at the ceiling.

"Well if you do decide to start some kind of daycare maybe you should let Elaine run it, after leaving Wolfram and Hart it's been hard for her to find work, I have the advantage of still being able to practice law," Lindsey said with a slightly nervous look on his face as he shifted in his seat before briefly glancing back over his shoulder

"You'll have to bring that up with Cordelia, she seems to have become obsessed with the idea, but I'm afraid that it's all a front for her insecurities about not having a child of her own," Angel replied with a concerned frown on his face as he looked over Lindsey's shoulder and out into the lobby where he could see Fred and Cordelia hugging.

"I hope that you're wrong, because after that little bombshell that Winifred dropped on Chuck out there you'd better be making room for one more," Lindsey said with a slightly smug smirk on his face as he glanced back at the door before returning his gaze to Angel.

"You mean Fred's…pregnant," Angel asked with a surprised look on his face as he sat up in his chair and looked intently out into the lobby.

"Couldn't you sense it, vampire hearing and all, surely you should have heard the heartbeat by now," Lindsey answered with a shocked smile on his face as he sat up in his chair and grinned at Angel.

"Guess I've been slipping a bit lately, I'm not as young as I used to be," Angel said with a tired and overworked expression on his face as he shrugged his shoulders and rubbed his eyes.

"Maybe you're getting vampire Alzheimer's," Lindsey quipped with a sly grin on his face as he expected a quick response.

"Yeah…maybe you're, I do not have vampire Alzheimer's," Angel started to answer with a nervous sigh before what Lindsey had said hit him and he nearly shouted out the rest.

"You could be right, but then again with everything that you've missed lately it's not looking to good for you," Lindsey said back with an unsure look on his face as he shook his head and took a deep calming breath.

"I'm fine, it's just been to calm lately and I'm out of practice, this case for Willow is just what I need to get my edge back," Angel said with a nervous but hopeful look on his face as he pushed his chair back and then stood up.

"Perhaps, whatever it is just don't forget to pick Charles up off of the floor on your way out, Fred's little announcement looked like it hit him pretty hard," Lindsey said over his shoulder, as Angel passed him, with a cheesy grin on his face before he stood up and followed Angel out of the office.

END OF CHAPTER 5


	6. A New Hope

YOU'RE OUT 

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Hope, Dominic, and Joyce.**

**CHAPTER 6-A NEW HOPE **

"Hey Wes look, our desks," Faith said with a fake look of excitement as she poked him in the shoulder and then pointed over towards a couple of desks on the far side of the room.

"Somehow this moment is not as thrilling as I had envisioned it," Wesley said with an anxious and nervous tone to his voice as he carried Hope in his arms towards his chair while Faith carried Dominic towards hers.

"They rarely are," Faith said back with a sly wink as she pulled her chair back and sat down, setting Dominic down on the desk facing her.

"Even so we should probably make sure that we have everything that we'll need," Wesley said with an awkward expression on his face as he also sat down, setting Hope down on his lap.

"I think we have enough paperclips and rubber bands here Wes, so just calm down okay, our first official day isn't until next week," Faith replied with a bored sigh as she picked up her towel and wiped away some of the drool from Dominic's chin.

"That wasn't what I meant and you know it, I just though that…I don't know, that we'd have an office of some sort," Wesley replied with a sad sigh before Hope did her best to make a mess of the papers that were already on his desk.

"Hate to break it to ya there lover but if Willow and Oz don't get an office then one is probably not in the cards for us, besides unless Kate can get some federal help we're all going to be stuck in this tiny little room together for a long time," Faith replied with a slightly less joking smile on her face as she scooted her chair up closer to the desk and continued to prop Dominic up.

"I guess that it could be worse, at least Kate is in charge of the unit as opposed to someone that has never dealt with the supernatural," Wesley said with a shrug of his shoulders as he tried to separate Hope from the papers that she had messed up on top of his desk.

"You're right, though she's still got a long way to go before she truly understands the demon world," Faith added with only a slight bit of sarcasm in her voice as she smiled over at Wesley.

"At least she's open to the fact that there's more gray to it than black and white, even if she's still learning to tell the difference between gray and the other two" Wesley said with a concerned look on his face as he pulled a small toy out of his pocket and handed it to Hope.

"We're all still learning that lesson dear, now all that we can do is make sure that Hope and Dominic understand that fact as soon as possible," Faith stated with a sly wink at her husband before she went back to wiping away a line of drool before it dripped off of Dominic's chin and down onto his shirt.

"I don't think that Hope is old enough to begin learning about the demon world, though the few demons that she's seen haven't scared her so maybe we'll get lucky with her, and Dominic's years away from it," Wesley said with a pensive look on his face as he began a light tug of war with Hope for the toy.

"He giggles every time that Angel or Spike slip their game faces on, kind of scary if you think about it, you're supposed to be afraid of them when they do that Dom, not almost bust a gut laughing," Faith said softly in reply, though more to Dominic than to Wesley before she began to smile and make funny faces at her son until his face lit up with a big grin that reminded Faith of the grins that Wesley could produce when he was very happy.

"I can still remember the time that I first saw Angel slip his game face on back in Sunnydale, nearly scared the…scared me half to death," Wesley started to say with a slight shudder that ran through his body before he stopped himself before swearing in front of his children and awkwardly finished his statement.

"But you see kids, the part that daddy's not telling you is that he pissed his pants to," Faith said under her breath with a sly grin on her face as she leaned in a bit closer to Dominic and Hope before Wesley could get a word in edgewise.

"I did not, it was just quite disconcerting at the time," Wesley exclaimed with an embarrassed and upset scowl on his face before Faith mouthed an apology to him from across their desks.

"I'm sure that it was Wesley, thankfully you got used to it," Willow said with a slight smirk on her face as she walked into the room carrying Tara with a frustrated looking Oz at her side.

"Another daycare bites the dust," Faith asked with an amused smirk on her face as she steadied Dominic on the top of her desk.

"Bingo, Tara's not there a week and Will's already pulling her out," Oz replied with a frustrated and anxious expression on his face as he shook his head before he pulled Willow's chair out for her.

"She didn't fit in, all of the other parents were treating her like she had some disease, the moment they found out that she had a witch and a werewolf for parents they wigged out," Willow added with an impatient and upset scowl on her face as she sat down and scooted up towards her desk, refusing to let Tara down to play.

"That's why we don't tell people what we do for a living, they'd freak if they knew to much about us," Faith replied with a nervous smile on her face before she fished Dominic's pacifier out of her pocket, cleaned it off, and then gave it to him and he popped it into his mouth.

"Well now our name is mud in the daycare circles," Oz grumbled with an unhappy shrug of his shoulders as he started to make coffee.

"There are daycare circles," Wesley asked with a surprised and confused look on his face as he turned away from keeping Hope from the papers on his desk for a moment.

"Of course, daycare isn't what it used to be, it's almost as hard to get into some daycare's as it is to get into private school's, there's a waiting list at most of them not to mention the insane dues and hoops that you have to jump through just to have your child even considered," Oz said with an exasperated sigh before he finished the coffee and carefully handed Willow a cup before silently asking Wesley and Faith if they wanted a cup, they both politely declined.

"Ah, the perks of living in a large metropolitan environment," Wesley joked with a sarcastically amused smirk on his face as he pulled Hope off of the desk and into his arms as he leaned back in his chair.

11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111

"How…how long have you known," Gunn stammered out with an overwhelmed tone to his voice as he was doing his best to remain calm after having just been told that he was going to be a father.

"Not to long, I took one of those home pregnancy tests a couple of weeks ago," Fred softly replied with a very nervous but yet also excited look on her face as she clasped her hands together and stared solemnly out of the window. After the initial breaking of the big news Gunn had taken Fred up to their room to talk in private.

"Those can be…," Gunn started to say with a still overwhelmed look on his face before Fred cut him off with a slight turn of her head.

"It was right, after the test came back positive I went to see a doctor, she confirmed it…I'm pregnant," Fred replied with a look on her face that leaned towards that she was terrified of what Gunn's reaction would be.

"How far along are you," Gunn asked with a nervous tone to his voice as he stood up and walked across the room.

"Not to far, it'll be a few more weeks before I start to show, I was going to wait until then to call my mom and dad and tell them," Fred said with a slightly relieved look on her face as she turned back to look up at Gunn.

"Knowing them they'll drive here straight through the night once they find out, it'll be ugly, your father trying to relay old parenting stories while your mother constantly reminds me that this is something special and that it's supposed to be the happiest moment in our lives," Gunn said with a happily sarcastic smirk on his face as he guessed what the Burkle's would do the moment that they found out that their only daughter was expecting.

"They had a bad experience on the way home last time, I think that they'll fly this time, although I doubt that they'd mind it if we went there and told them the good news in person, I think that Angel and Cordy could handle things around here for a week or so," Fred said with a thoughtful look on her face as she went over the numbers in her head.

"Well should we call them first or just show up on their doorstep, completely out of the blue," Gunn said with an amused look on his face as he sat down on the bed beside Fred and put an arm around her.

"Call first…definitely call first, otherwise they could be at the fair or something and we'd completely miss them," Fred replied with a soft laugh as she turned her head and looked up at Gunn.

1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111

"Remember the good old days Wes, when it was just the five of us, you, me, Cordy, Gunn, and Fred, fighting against the forces of darkness," Angel said with a tired and overwhelmed tone to his voice as his shoulders slumped a bit and he sadly shook his head.

"Desperately trying to keep the bank from foreclosing," Wesley added with a sly and smug smirk on his face as he clasped his hands together behind his back and looked around at the expansive room that Cordelia was currently in the middle of remodeling into a sort of daycare for the defenders of the city.

"Good times," Angel said with a sarcastically nostalgic smirk on his face as he crossed his arms and took in a useless breath.

"Very good times," Wesley chimed in with a slightly cheesy grin on his face as he unclasped his hands from behind his back and slid them into his pockets.

"What happened to us Wes, we used to fight evil every day, saving the innocent, helping the helpless," Angel asked with an exasperated tone of voice as he slowly began to casually pace around the room, momentarily stopping at some points to notice the changes in the room.

"Now we change diapers and worry about our approval rating," Wesley replied with a tired sigh as he slowly nodded his head and looked at a set of blueprints that Cordelia had left out on one of the tables.

"Mine did go up a few points yesterday, guess they must have found out about my battle with the Fyarl demons," Angel said with a proud look on his face as he turned back to Wesley and uncrossed his arms.

"That's true, though you still trail Cordelia by about a dozen points right," Wesley said with a sly grin on his face as he half turned back to Angel, just enough to see the look of hurt pride on his face.

"Six…six lousy points, but it's only because she's the one doing the commercials, I offered to do them but she wouldn't hear of it, said that I'd scare children, I'm not scary…right, Hope and Dominic love me," Angel said with an unhappy pout on his face before his face brightened as he turned to Wesley and asked his question.

"They've known you their entire lives Angel, Dominic isn't even a year old, I'm not sure that either knows that your game face isn't a mask of some sort," Wesley calmly replied with later an impish smirk on his face as he saw the look of fear that crossed Angel's face.

"Well better that they learn now while they're young before they learn about it on the streets," Angel said with a desperately trying to bolster his own confidence but it wasn't working to well tone to his voice as he turned back to Wesley.

"And what streets would those be exactly, it'll be years before Faith even lets them out of her sight for more than five minutes without someone else hovering over them like a hawk," Wesley asked with a slightly impish expression on his face as he walked over and picked up a toy of Hope's that had been left at The Hyperion accidentally.

"Was I any different with Connor," Angel reminded Wesley with a slightly cheesy grin on his face as he turns back to Wesley and picks up a pile of newspapers off of the seat of a chair before taking a seat.

"You're right, though as I recall it was only after Cordelia threatened you with something that you let any of the rest of us hold Connor," Wesley replied with a content smirk on his face as he leaned up against the wall beside Angel.

"In my defense I was a new father, and it had been over a hundred years since I had done anything with a child in my arms other than…," Angel started to say with a defensive look on his face before he trailed off rather than complete the scary thought.

"Well then you're going to have to brush up your parenting skills with Connor and Jocelyn expecting," Wesley said with a somewhat proud look on his face as he crossed his arms and looked down at Angel.

"And Gunn and Fred," Angel added with a worn out expression on his face as he flopped back in his seat and lazily gazed up at the ceiling.

"Fred's…pregnant," Wesley said with a pleasantly surprised tone to his voice as he uncrossed his arms and looked down at Angel.

"That's what she said, I've been hearing another heartbeat for a few days but I just though that I was tired and hearing things, guess I was wrong," Angel replied with a slight shrug of his shoulders as he turned his head to look over at Wesley.

"What did Gunn say, he must have been pretty surprised," Wesley asked with a happy smile on his face as he slid down the wall until he was squatting down beside Angel's chair.

"He almost fell off of the couch when she told him, Lindsey had a good laugh about it though, he, Elaine, and Isaac came to see me earlier, wanting me to get fully involved with that rash of unexplained deaths," Angel answered with a short chuckle as he remembered Gunn's startled expression at learning the good news.

"I don't think that they're so unexplained anymore, I have a theory that what we're dealing with are Tavivosh demons," Wesley interrupted with a thoughtful look on his face as he stood back up and started to step away from Angel and the wall.

"Great…just what I needed, another invisible opponent," Angel mumbled with an unhappy frown on his face as he shook his head and sat up in his chair.

"So you've heard of them then," Wesley wondered aloud with a subtly surprised look on his face as he stopped walking away and turned back to face Angel.

"Unfortunately, I fought one about a century or so ago, before I got my soul, it very nearly did me in, the only reason that I made it was because I didn't have a soul for it to take," Angel replied with a very serious and concerned look on his face as he stood up and covered the distance between his chair and where Wesley was standing before Cordelia entered the room.

"There you are Wesley, Faith called and she said that Dawn could baby-sit Hope and Dominic tonight, but only if you drop them off in Sunnydale," Cordelia said with a bored and relaxed look on her face as she walked towards the two and handed Wesley a slip of paper.

"Good…what's this," Wesley said softly at first before taking the piece of paper and turning it around so that he could get a good look.

"A shopping list, Faith said that since you're on your way home that you could stop by the market and pick up a few things," Cordelia said with her usual smart and correct tone of voice as she crossed her arms and looked Angel up and down, taking stock of his mood.

"I should have known, it was stuck on the refrigerator door with a magnet this morning, I was hoping that if I didn't mention it that she'd just end up doing it herself, looks like I was wrong," Wesley said with a slightly defeated look on his face as he shook his head, took his wallet out, folded up the piece of paper and then slipped it in before returning his wallet to his pocket.

"So what else is new," Cordelia said with a triumphant sparkle in her eyes as she crossed her arms and grinned at Wesley.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you Cordelia," Wesley asked with a tired smile on his face as he shook his head and silently bid both adieu.

"Ever so much," Cordelia softly stated back with a little overly excited look on her face as she slowly nodded her head while Wesley walked out of the room.

"Was there some other reason that you're in such a good mood or did you really take that much pleasure in reminding Wesley that he needed to pick up a couple of quarts of milk, some cheese, and formula…okay I peeked," Angel wondered with at first a confidant look on his face and tone to his voice before he saw the skeptical look on Cordelia's face and admitted his being nosey.

"Hey now, can't I just be in a great mood without an ulterior motive," Cordelia exclaimed with an offended look on her face and aghast tone to her voice as she took a step back from Angel and glared at him.

"No," Angel said calmly and clearly with a low tone of voice as he slid his hands into his pockets and shuffled his feet a bit. Cordelia looked ready to fight for a second before everything changed.

"I give up, okay fine, the reason that I'm in such a good mood is that we found the lair of the demon that gave Spike his soul and made it permanent," Cordelia said with at first a frustrated pout before her eyes glimmered with tears as she let Angel in on the secret. At that moment it would have been possible to knock Angel over with a feather as he feverishly dreamt about the possibilities that having his soul becoming permanent could entail.

END OF CHAPTER 6


	7. First Big Meeting

YOU'RE OUT 

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Hope, Dominic, and Jocelyn.**

**CHAPTER 7-FIRST BIG MEETING**

"Have you heard the good news," Wesley asked with a tired look on his face as he walked up the final few steps and then entered the office that he and Faith shared in the attic. Hope was busy taking a nap in a crib that sat along one wall while Dominic snored softly in a playpen near Faith's desk. A radio was softly playing a Mozart cd that Wesley had gotten Faith for her last birthday after she had mentioned that while pregnant with Hope classical music had helped her to calm down and relax.

"That depends, does if have to do with the case that we're helping Willow with," Faith replied softly with a small yawn as she stopped typing and looked back over her shoulder at her husband.

"Nope…it's something much better, they found the demon that gave Spike his soul back," Wesley started to say softly with an excited smile on his face as he leaned over and gave Faith a kiss on the cheek before Faith spun around quickly in her chair and sat up in her chair, leaving her nose to nose with Wesley.

"Which means that he can take the trials and make his soul permanently his," Faith whispered back with a merry grin on her face before she reached out and pulled Wesley into an unintentionally passionate kiss.

"And finally have a shot at a real future with Cordelia, no more worrying about the gypsy curse," Wesley added in a sweet whisper as he pulled back only so far so that the tips of the two's noses were touching.

"Bet he was happy about that," Faith said with a slightly louder voice as she half twirled back around in her chair, though keeping a hold of one of Wesley's hands as she pulled his one arm tightly around her, almost in a hug, before Wesley took the hint and encircled her with his other arm, with Faith resting her chin in his elbow.

"You could say that, he hugged Cordelia so hard when she first told him that he nearly snapped her in two, he was ready to leave before I even left the hotel," Wesley replied with a happily sarcastic tone to his voice as he lifted his fingers and brushed some of Faith's hair back off of her shoulder and then began to trail a line of kisses up from her now exposed shoulder up towards her ear.

"This is going to change everything you know, Angel and Cordelia finally together…Spike will be devastated, he loved getting under Angel's skin about being with Buffy while Angel couldn't be with anyone," Faith joked with a sly grin on her face before Wesley stood fully back up and nodded his head.

"I'm sure that Buffy will be able to help him through this difficult time though, besides if she can't then Joyce will keep him busy," Wesley added with a tired yawn as he walked away from Faith and towards his desk as Faith turned fully around in her chair and sat up straight.

"Speaking of keeping busy, we have that meeting with Willow and Oz tomorrow morning, Kate is getting back and she wants to make sure that we're all on the same page, and Dawn is staying with a friend through the weekend so we're going to have to find someone to baby-sit Hope and Dominic," Faith said with a frustrated frown on her face as she leaned forward in her chair, resting her elbows on her knees and looking straight at Wesley pulled out his chair and sat down.

"We could always ask Gunn and Fred to watch them, I don't think that they have any plans for tomorrow morning, and if all else fails then we could always ask Anne to watch them," Wesley offered with a deep in though look in his eyes as he scooted his chair up closer to his desk and glanced down at a couple of the files on the desk in front of him.

"I know she's an old friend and she's doing great work at the shelter, but I don't want Hope and Dominic exposed to that situation, I had to much of that in my own childhood and I swore that if I ever had any kids of my own that they'd never have to go through anything like that," Faith said back with a somber and depressed look on her face before she scowled as she pulled on a button on the shirt that she was wearing and it came off.

"They won't Faith, before we got married I made a promise to you that our children would not know any of the hardships that we did, and I plan on keeping that promise," Wesley said with a very sincere and serious look on his face as he set the papers back down on his desk and then pushed his chair back and stood up.

"I remember, you took me to that fancy Greek restaurant, the one with the bad lighting, and that old guy played the piano for us and you pulled me out onto the dance floor, saying something about having something very important to tell me," Faith said with a slight snicker as she shook her head and slipped the loose button into the pocket of her jeans as Wesley slipped around the corner of his desk.

"And I remember that I nearly had to kill you to get you onto that dance floor, you kept saying that if I wanted to dance then we should have gone to one of the clubs that we had passed on the way there," Wesley said with a nostalgic look of happiness on his face as he walked over to the cd player and pushed stop before switching cd's. Faith was about to ask him what he was doing when an all to familiar melody wafted through the air. Faith wasn't overly fond of the artist or the piece in particular, but she had found that she could lose herself to that melody while slow dancing with Wesley. She guessed that was his intention as well when he held out his hand and asked her with his eyes if she cared to dance. Smiling like she hadn't since she was three Faith did her best to bow slightly in her seat before she took his hand and let him lead her over to an open area in the attic with a window that stood barely open nearby. Without barely moving Wesley reached over and flipped off the lights, letting the room be filled only with moonlight as he held Faith close and they swayed to the music.

11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111

"Are you sure that she said eight," Oz asked with an impatient tone to his voice as he messed with his tie until it became to much of a distraction and she leaned over and forcefully straightened Oz's tie, nearly choking him in the process. Oz knew how to tie a tie however he rarely wore them, only when Kate was in town as she made it a point for the their department to look as professional as possible. A directive that caused Faith to have to dig into her closet to come up with something to wear, far from her usual faded blue jeans and comfortable shirt and shoes. She had ended up picking out a business suit that she had bought for the hearing that had happened when the reporter had sued Angel. Though it was a little big for her she still liked how it made her look all professional and very far removed from her upbringing and old lifestyle. It hadn't hurt that Wesley had asked her if she had ever done it in an empty courtroom. She had countered with a soft snicker of a question asking him if he thought that they could get away with it right in the middle of the trial with everyone in the room and everything proceeding. Faith was about to lean over and ask Wesley a new question, as he was dressed in a dark blue suit himself, but Kate walked into the room looking unhappy with Groo walking closely behind her, trying to get her to drink some sort of Pylean concoction.

"I'm fine Groo, I don't need to drink…whatever that is," Kate said with an unhappy and hurried tone to her voice as she shook her head and set the large pile of folders that she was carrying down onto the table that everyone else was sitting around.

"It is gliesalon juice, said to help soothe both the body and mind," Groo said with a concerned tone to his voice and look on his face as he was careful to keep from spilling some of the juice before he set it down on the table beside Kate's stack of folders. For a second Kate looked ready to snap back at him angrily but she bit her tongue, took a deep breath, and relented. Being the leader of the division had put a terrible amount of pressure on Kate and in no large amount of time every member of the team had incurred her wrath that truly was not their fault. The only thing keeping her sane since the formation of the team was Groo and his seemingly endless amount of patience and love for her. At her retirement dinner Kate would admit that had it not been for those aspects of Groo's personality and character she would never have made it through those early days.

"I don't…oh alright," Kate started to argue with a overworked look on her face before she relented and took a sip, surprised to find that it didn't taste terrible.

"Have fun in Washington," Faith asked with a relaxed smile on her face as she scratched a sore spot on her wrist before Wesley pulled a small tube of cream and handed it to her with a rather stern look on his face.

"Not really Faith, though I highly doubt that anyone can have any fun there," Kate replied with a somber tone to her voice before she finished off the rest of the juice and smiled at Groo, prompting him to take the cup and then leave the room.

"Well at least you were able to get the extra funding, even if it wasn't as much as you were hoping for," Wesley added with a calm and optimistic smirk on his face as he sat up in his chair and opened up a folder before he began to search for a pen in his pockets, finally realizing that he hadn't remembered to bring one. With a guilty and embarrassed look on his face he started to turn to Willow to ask for a pen when he felt Faith hit his arm. He started to turn back around to ask her with his eyes why she had hit him when he saw that she was holding a pen in her hand and an impatient look on her face. Smiling sheepishly he took the pen and turned back to his file while Faith could only smile and shake her head.

"True, though we're still far below our fundraising goal to build our own offices where it'll just be us with the special holding cells where we don't have to borrow paperclips from the other officers," Katy said with an impatient and unhappy smile on her face before she threw in a bit of humor at the end.

"Yeah, I hate having to do that," Oz mumbled with a sarcastic smirk on his face as he loosened up his tie a bit and tapped the end of his pen on his pad of paper.

"Anyway, anyone want to bring me up to speed on our current case," Kate asked with a tired and weary look on her face as she sat down in her chair just as Groo reentered the room and took his seat next to hers.

"Not much to tell really, almost twenty victims, all just dropped dead like they were alive one moment and dead the next, coroner can't find a single reason why they're not all still alive, Wesley has a theory that the deaths were caused by a Tavivosh demon, though because of the fact that they were supposed to be extinct and are invisible until they attack we haven't really gotten very far on that particular front," Faith said with a confident tone to her voice and look on her face as she sat up straight in her chair and casually scribbled a few notes down on the pad of paper in front of her, catching the look of pride in Wesley's eyes when she was through.

"Sounds like you guys have been having fun, what's the possibility of any or all of these killings being caused by natural causes or a human criminal," Kate said with a tired smile on her face as she ran a hand through her hair and turned away from Faith to look straight down the rectangular table towards Willow.

"Zip, zilch, the big nada, there is not a single natural or human related cause for any of these deaths that we've found so far, I've come up empty with the net and at the moment Wesley's demon theory is the best thing that we've got," Willow replied with an anxious and unhappy frown on her face as she began to tap the end of her pen on the small stack of files in front of her.

"I see, so then where do we go from here, we can't exactly sit on our hands while more people keep dropping dead, do we have any leads on these Tavivosh demons," Kate said quietly with a calm nod of her head before she looked up and at each and every person sitting at the table.

"No…not at the moment," Oz said with a serious and unhappy frown on his face as he looked briefly at Kate before looking back down at his tie.

"But we do have a general idea where they might be congregating, if it is them," Faith added with a cautious expression on her face as she laid down her pen on the pad of paper and interlaced her fingers on the top of the table, trying to sound confidant and like she knew what she was talking about.

"They like to assemble and gather around bodies of water, and seeing as how we're only a stones throw away from the ocean their lair or camp could be anywhere," Wesley added with a grim look on his face as he had laid out a small map of the nearby coast on the table in front of him.

"So what you're saying is that I should conduct an exhaustive search of the entire California coast," Kate asked with a fair amount of sarcasm in her voice as Wesley suddenly felt very foolish and couldn't help but look away, his spirits lifted a bit when Faith slipped her right shoe off and rubbed his ankle a bit, not wanting to play footsy but more as a small show of support without being overly dramatic and out of place.

"It might be possible for me to cast a sort of locater spell and see if I can find an are of high demon concentration, sure we might get a few false leads but there aren't to many demon groups that nest or headquarter themselves by the water, most of them stay far enough inland," Willow said with an optimistic look on her face as she looked up only briefly as she began to scribble down the words to a spell on her pad of paper.

"That's a good place to start Willow but unless you can somehow make it a long range spell you could be at it for days if not weeks," Wesley stated with a sobering tone to his voice as he leaned back in his chair and turned from looking at Willow to looking down the table at Kate.

"Maybe we could research these demons a bit more and figure out which beaches and waterways would be their most likely hideouts and go from there," Faith added with a helpful look on her face as she pulled her foot back from Wesley's ankle and bent down just enough to put her shoe back on.

"Good idea, Wesley and Faith I want you two to find out all that you can on these demons and give Willow whatever help she needs, while the rest of us continue on working as usual, this isn't our only case," Kate said with a tired look on her face before she seemed to nod her head in finality and then close the files in front of her and stack them back up into a pile.

1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111

"That woman is in serious need of a vacation," Faith grumbled with a relaxed tone to her voice as she slumped down into her chair in the attic and put her feet up after having gotten home and changed clothes. Her business suit had been put back in the corner of the hallway closet and now she had on one of Wesley's old baggy shirts and her favorite pair of shorts.

"I agree, however she is in charge of the unit and as such our boss," Wesley said with a tired look in his eyes as he sat down on the edge of Faith's desk and started to tickle the underside of her left calf.

"Wimp," Faith grumbled back with a tired pout on her face as she ran her hands through her hair and ruffled it up a bit.

"Cute dear, now may I ask how are you going to be able to help me with this research when it's all in an ancient demon language that only five other people in the world know how to read," Wesley stated at first with a serious and almost angry look on his face before he switched gears and picked Faith's feet up off of her desk and set them down in his lap. He couldn't help but smile as he watched the gears in Faith's mind turn as she tried to come up with a reply that would prove her worth in the matter while still not making her look stupid. Seeing if he could affect the outcome of that thinking Wesley slowly started to tickle the bottoms of her feet before moving on to her ankle, the back of her calf, and then to the back of her knee, finally ending up tracing a line of tickles up the back of her thigh and only stopping just below her butt when he hit the bottom of her shorts. The whole time that he was doing this Faith stayed silent, watching Hope and Dominic in their playpens out of the corner of her eye. But she couldn't keep a pleasured smile from creeping up onto her lips along the way.

"Well…Hope needs a bath and Dominic needs to take his medication, so I'll leave you to the fun stuff," Faith finally replied with an embarrassed look on her face, as that was all that she could come up with, before she reluctantly brushed Wesley's hand away and stood up. She forced herself not to look back as she picked both of her children up and walked out of the attic.

END OF CHAPTER 7


	8. Trial And Error

YOU'RE OUT 

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Hope, Dominic, and Jocelyn.**

**CHAPTER 8-TRIAL AND ERROR**

"We've already searched three beaches and found a whole lot of nothing," Oz said into the phone with an exasperated tone to his voice as he stepped back under the pier to get into the shade.

"Maybe Willow could be a little bit more accurate the next time that she sends us out on a wild goose chase," Faith said with a bored and anxious expression on her face as she unbuttoned her business looking top and wrapped it around her waist, leaving her wearing a beater on top, with the sun glistening off of her bare arms with a thin layer of sweat forming on top.

"We need to do this Faith, though I agree that this might not have been the best day to spend on the beach," Wesley agreed with a tired and slightly exhausted tone to his voice as he unbuttoned the top few buttons on his shirt and rolled up the sleeves, leaning back into the shade to get some relief from the hot sun.

"Maybe we should call it a day and come back after dark, at least then there'll be a breeze," Faith said with an unhappy frown on her face as she reached her hand up and wiped some of the sweat off of her forehead as Oz continued to talk on the telephone.

"True, but then we would be at the disadvantage, the Tavivosh demons do not see as well during the day as they do during the night," Wesley replied with a weary smile on his face as he laid his hands on either side of Faith's neck and began to slow massage her shoulders, taking great care to not unclasp the necklace that she was wearing.

"Which is why we have to stay out here until we find there nest, either that or we search them all…not find anything, and your theory is completely wrong, we go back to square one and look like fools," Oz interjected with a bored and frustrated look on his face as he hung up the phone and pulled a small handkerchief from his pocket and wiped off his forehead.

"Okay, so where to next," Faith said with a bored and tired look on her face as she reached up and laid her hands over Wesley's on her shoulders.

"The pier, Willow said that she thought that it had the strongest response of the remaining targets," Oz answered with an anxious and nervous look on his face as he shrugged his shoulders and then knelt down at the water's edge and splashed some of it on his face in hopes of cooling off a little.

"Not to be a bitch here but wasn't that what she said about this place," Faith interjected with an anxious and bored look on her face as she shook her head and looked back up at Wesley.

"I believe so, although they can't all be empty, one of the locations that Willow sensed has to be the lair, when we find it we will be one step closer to stopping these demons and bringing peace back to this city," Wesley replied with a slight shrug of his shoulders as he reached his hand up and gave Faith's right shoulder a squeeze before Oz broke in.

"That is if your theory about the Tavivosh demons is accurate, because if it's not," Oz interjected with a serious look on his face and tone to his voice as he stood back up and tried to dry his hands off on the front of his pants.

"Then we're all fucked, that or Miami will start to look real good," Faith shot back with a sly grin on her face as she turned around to fully face Wesley before casting Oz a quick glance back over her shoulder.

"Miami always looks good, but that's not the point here, Willow's trying very hard and we should be supportive of her," Oz countered with a somewhat unhappy scowl on his face as he walked out from underneath the pier and started back towards the car.

"We are supportive of her Oz, it's just that her average sucks right about now," Faith said with a damage control tone of voice as she cast Wesley a quick look before heading out after Oz.

"And yours have been any better," Oz snapped back with an unhappy scowl on his face as he unlocked the door and then opened it.

"Touché, but at least with Wes' clues we know where to look, Willow could have us looking at every square inch of coastline from Canada to Mexico all because she got a funny feeling," Faith snapped back after first throwing up her hands in mock defeat and then opening up her door as Wesley stepped up behind her.

"Willow will find the right beach, we just have to faith in her, if you two want to quit and go home then fine, but I'm not, I'm sticking this one out even if it kills me," Oz said with an unhappy scowl on his face and tone to his voice as he sat down and pulled his car door shut.

"I think we overdid it this time dear," Wesley whispered softly into Faith's ear before he got into the back seat and shut the door behind him.

"Got that right," Faith said back to him in a look through the vanity mirror as she sat down and shut her own door.

111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111

"It's kind of karmic in a way, don't you think," Lorne said with an almost dreamy smile on his face before he took a sip from his drink.

"What is," Lindsey asked with a confused look on his face as he stopped reading an article in the newspaper and glanced up.

"Not much really, just that after all of everyone's combined years of killing demons and other creatures to whom death and destruction is the norm we've switched gears and became a place of light and hope," Lorne answered with a happy smile on his face as he motioned around the large room, which was beginning to look more and more like a nursery every day.

"I don't think I'd go that far Lorne," Lindsey said with a slightly skeptical expression on his face as he folded the newspaper in half and tried to read the rest of the story that he had been reading before Lorne's outburst.

"Well what would you say then huh, Wesley and Faith already have two children, you and Elaine have one, Connor and Jocelyn and Gunn and Fred are expecting, we've got kids coming out of our ears, if that's not a sign of the renewal of life as opposed to all of the death and destruction that we've seen then I don't know what is," Lorne countered with a fervent tone to his voice as he walked around the room, stopping briefly at every spot that Cordelia had taped out on the floor.

"Okay I'll admit that you've got a point about us having a baby boom, but isn't that what happens in these situations, people working closely together in tense situations where they can only rely on each other, a few kids here and there is to be expected," Lindsey replied with a carefree shrug of his shoulders as he stopped reading the paper and then laid it down on the nightstand beside him.

"True, but we here are not normal, are we pumpkin, we're light years removed from normal," Lorne said back with a slightly proud smile on his face as he walked over and picked up the newspaper that Lindsey had been reading.

"Look Lorne, I'd love to stay here and shoot the breeze with you but I really have to meet up with Elaine, she has a doctor's appointment today and in this heat I don't want to keep her waiting long," Lindsey said with a bored sigh as he shook his head and stood back up before he double-checked his watch.

"Oh…uh sure, I understand," Lorne said with a sad and unhappy look on his face before he did his best to smile and keep up appearances as Lindsey left.

"Where's lawyer boy off to in such a hurry," Connor asked with a slightly devilish smile on his face as he stepped out of the shadows and looked to Lorne.

"To meet up with his lady love for a doctor's appointment, and since when did you start using nicknames to describe people," Lorne answered at first with a proud and happy smile on his face before he turned and regarded Connor with a slightly confused look on his face.

"Guess I've been hanging around Spike a little to much, don't tell my dad but I think that he's beginning to rub off on me a little bit," Connor replied with a joking snicker as he walked further into the room and brushed some hair off of his ear.

"Don't let your father find that out, I don't suppose that he'd be to pleased about it," Lorne said back with a soft chuckle as he sat down in the open chair and looked up at Connor.

"What were you and Lindsey doing before I came in," Connor asked with a bored look on his face as he walked slowly towards the chair, looking around the room along the way.

"Waxing poetic," Lorne replied with a happy smile on his face as he waited to see if Connor got that he was joking or whether or not he had missed the obvious pun.

"Right," Connor said with an unsure expression on his face as he stopped looking around the room and fully turned towards Lorne.

"Okay kid, ya got me, I was trying to talk to him about how different everything has become, when I first met your pop he was all about battling evil and finding redemption, now he's seemingly up to his armpits in celebrity gala's and diapers," Lorne said with a gentle smile on his face as he threw up his hands in fake defeat and looked up at Connor.

"It must be strange for him, even though he talks big he's never comfortable in the spotlight," Connor said with a serious and somewhat worried look on his face as he checked his watch.

"He'll be alright Connor, trust me, Cordelia went with him and nothing can stop those two when they set their minds on something, they'll be back before you know it and then we can all celebrate his new permanent soul," Lorne said back with a very supportive and confidant expression on his face before he stood up and looked around the room.

"You're right, however when she's with him he tends to stick his neck out a bit to much, he gets a little to macho and I'm afraid that he'll do something stupid," Connor said with a nervous nod of his head as he smoothed out the edge of one of the pieces of tape on the floor with his foot.

"And we all know what happens when he does that, everything goes to hell in a nifty little hand basket, with us along for the ride, and I just got this suit dry-cleaned," Lorne grumbled with an unhappy and anxious tone to his voice as he adjusted his tie and brushed a bit of lint off of his lapel.

"Maybe I should have gone with them," Connor offered with a worried look on his face as he turned back to Lorne.

"Nah kiddo, your heart's in the right place but Angel wanted you to stay here in case anything comes up, you're our ace in the hole, with Wes and Faith helping the police with that rash of killings and Fred and Gunn in Texas we're a bit shorthanded," Lorne said with a calm sigh as he smiled at Connor before wrapping an arm around the younger mans shoulders. "How about we go make sure that Jocelyn hasn't maxed out all of your credit cards ordering things for the little bundle of joy," Lorne added with a carefree grin on his face as Connor simply shrugged his shoulders in reply before the two walked out of the old ballroom and back into the lobby.

11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111

"How are you feeling," Oz asked softly with a concerned tone to his voice as he quietly shut the door behind him. He had dropped Wesley and Faith off at their house before returning to the station. After their exhaustive search had ended with nothing of any kind being found Oz had hoped that Willow would be in better spirits. She had shut herself away in one of the squad rooms, turning out the lights and playing a cd of seashore sounds to try and relax after spending much of the morning using magic to sift through the growing mountain of evidence that had been collected. Willow opened her mouth to reply but then thought better of it and shut it. "That good huh, here hopefully this will ease the pain," Oz added with a sincere tone of worry to his voice as he handed Willow a cup of a special tea.

"Thanks…I'm getting nowhere, and Kate's been on me all day for this," Willow mumbled softly with a weak smile on her face before she took a sip of the tea and closed her eyes.

"Anything I can help you with," Oz asked with a concerned and sympathetic tone to his voice as he pulled his chair up next to Willow's and began to massage her neck and shoulders.

"Not unless you're an all powerful wiccan and never told me," Willow replied with a meager smile on her face as she then turned to Oz and laid her head on his shoulder as he slid an arm around her.

"Hmm…let me check, um…nope, sorry, definitely not a wiccan, only your average run of the mill werewolf in sheep's clothing" Oz said back with a sly grin on his face before he leaned in close and gave Willow a kiss on the forehead.

"Thanks, but I don't know what we're going to do, we don't have a clue how to stop these deaths and if we don't have something to go on soon I'm afraid that the city will take this case away from us," Willow said with a sad frown on her face as she slightly pulled away from Oz long enough to look him in the eye.

"We'll think of something don't worry, Wesley and Faith went to pick Hope and Dominic up and then come in bright and early tomorrow morning, we only have a few places left to search, we'll find the demons and save the city, just like always, it'll just take a little longer than usual, now why don't we look over these files again, maybe two sets of eyes will be better than one," Oz replied with a nervous sigh and smile on his face as he gave Willow a squeeze before he let go and picked up one of the files on the desk in front of Willow and opened it up.

111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111

"Anything from Angel or Cordelia," Wesley asked through his towel as he stepped out of the shower and started to dry his hair.

"That's a negative, Angel probably forgot to even take his cell phone along," Faith answered with a slightly worried look on her face though she hid it well before slipping a sock onto Dominic's other foot.

"Well then perhaps we should call them, Angel isn't to attached to his phone but I know for a fact that Cordelia can't go for more than a hour or two without checking hers to see if she has any messages," Wesley said with a content look on his face as he tied the towel around his waist and walked out of the bathroom and into the bedroom, picking one of Hope's toys up off of the floor and handing it to her as he neared the bed.

"Queen C can't live without her creature comforts, I'm surprised that she hasn't caused Angel to go bankrupt yet with all of her shopping trips, I hope that Fred and Jocelyn are smart enough to do their own baby shopping, when we went together to get stuff for Dominic she dragged me around to at least a dozen stores," Faith grumbled with a sarcastic smirk on her face before she turned and handed her daughter to her husband and headed off towards the bathroom, yanking off her shirt along the way. While Faith took her shower Wesley ushered Dominic and Hope back to their room and was unbelievably lucky in that he was able to get them to lie down and take a nap without to much fuss. When he walked back into the bedroom Faith was just stepping out of the shower and turning the water off.

"Do you think they'll come right back or take a few days off so that Angel can get used to his newly permanent soul," Wesley asked with a curious tone of voice as he turned the lights down in the room and shut the blinds.

"Who knows with him, he'll probably surprise us all and be sitting there at his desk tomorrow morning checking the hockey scores," Faith replied with a short laugh as she grabbed a couple of towels and stepped out of the bathroom before reaching back and flipping off the light.

"That sounds like something that he'd do, though of course Cordelia would have to regale us with every single minute detail of their adventure," Wesley began to say with a sarcastic and slightly whimsical smile on his face as he walked back around the bed and stopped near the nightstand, half winking at Faith.

"Telling us how many nails she had broken and how many outfits she had ruined," Faith added as her voice grew steadily softer through her answer as she leisurely let go of one of the towels and closed the gap between herself and Wesley, gazing up at him with a curious look in her eyes.

"Or how Angel had gone on and on about how good having a permanent soul would feel and what it would mean for them," Wesley continued, almost in a whisper, before he began to trail a line of kisses up from the base of Faith's neck as he snaked one arm around her and drew her close, using the other hand to undo and slip the other towel from her body.

"Pity really, guess that means that we'll have to find a new babysitter," Faith started to whisper back with an eager and hungry look in her eyes before she tapped into a bit of her slayer strength and flung herself and Wesley back onto the bed and into an afternoon of bliss, hoping that Wesley had remembered to lock the door when he entered.

END OF CHAPTER 8


	9. Death Comes To Us All

YOU'RE OUT 

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Hope, Jocelyn, and Dominic.**

**Author's Note: Hopefully this will be the second to last chapter. Thank you to all of you that have read this story and remember reviews are appreciated. **

**CHAPTER 9-DEATH COMES TO US ALL**

"Please don't tell me we're here because Will got another hit with her locater spell," Faith grumbled with an unhappy frown on her face as Wesley set a cold drink down in front of her on the table and then sat down in the chair beside her.

"Close, we're here because there's been another death," Kate answered with a very stern and unhappy frown on her face as she walked out of her office and handed a newly opened file to Oz.

"Okay, then why are we here and not at the scene," Oz asked with a confused look on his face as he turned to Willow, who only shrugged her shoulders in response.

"Because the autopsy results just came back an hour ago and it wasn't our shift that's why, but now that we know that it was one of these Tavivosh demons it's our case, here is the file, there's a copy for each of you," Kate replied with a tired look on her face as she set a large stack of files down on the table in front of her before Oz started to hand them out.

"Great, and here I was looking forward to going to bed early tonight," Faith grumbled softly with a touch of sarcasm in her voice as she nervously ran a hand through her hair.

"The case isn't very different from any of the others, except for one small change, this attack was nearly two miles away from the last one, right near," Kate started to reply with an unhappy frown on her face before Wesley read through the file far enough and came to a scary realization.

"Two blocks away from the daycare that Hope and Dominic go to," Wesley announced with a very serious and concerned look on his face as beside him Faith's body instantly reacted and she sat up in her chair and quickly flipped through the pages of the file until she got to the same place that Wesley was at.

"Was this person connected to the daycare in some way," Oz asked with a nervous and scared look on his face as he started to dig deeper into the file.

"We're not sure at the moment, however I think that it might be a good idea to keep Hope and Dominic at home until these Tavivosh demons have been dealt with," Kate replied with a serious and concerned tone to her voice and look on her face as she calmly flipped through the file.

"Call the daycare and tell them that we've got a family emergency, I'm on my way," Faith stated with a very clear and firm tone of voice as she very nearly jumped up out of her seat and raced out of the room.

"This just stopped being funny," Willow grumbled with a worried and unhappy frown on her face before he hand shot to her own cell phone.

"Tara's fine Willow, her daycare isn't anywhere near the last attack, and besides most demons wouldn't go after a child's soul," Oz said with a nervous but optimistic look on his face as he tried to calm Willow's fears before Wesley spoke up.

"Actually Oz some demons prefer the soul of a child because it's purer than an adults," Wesley said with a certain look on his face as he relayed the insight gleamed from years of study.

"Not helping Wes," Willow grumbled back with a worried and unhappy frown on her face as she brushed Oz's hand out of the way and pulled her cell phone out of her pocket.

"Sorry," Wesley said with a slightly embarrassed look on his face as he then walked out of the room to make the call to the daycare, hoping that everything was alright.

"This is getting out of hand, isn't there some kind of way to keep these things contained, like a barrier spell or something that they avoid like the plague," Oz said with a frustrated and anxious expression on his face as he turned to Kate and Groo.

"I wish that there was Oz I really do, but right now all that we can do is try to find the nest and take them all out," Kate started to reply with a concerned look on her face before Willow cut in just before she dialed the phone number of the new daycare for Tara.

"You mean like we've been doing, yeah…that's been working really well," Willow grumbled with an unhappy and sarcastic scowl on her face before she began to punch in the numbers with her thumb.

"It's true that we're not making much progress on finding these demons, but we can't just resort to hysteria every time that someone dies, if we do then we have no chance of stopping them," Kate said back with a frustrated but serious look on her face and tone to her voice as she tried to remain calm.

"Wanting to make sure that my daughter is okay is not hysteria Kate, maybe you'll understand that once you have a child but until then," Willow started to snap back with an unhappy and slightly angry scowl on her face before Kate cut in.

"What, now listen here," Kate growled with an angry and accusing tone to her voice as she started to step around the side of the table but was stopped when Wesley walked back into the room and spoke up.

"I got in touch with the daycare, they said that three parents have already come and taken their children home because of the most recent attack, Faith should be there shortly however I think that it may be necessary to call Angel or Cordelia for help if this goes on much longer," Wesley interjected with a very serious and concerned look on his face as he slid his cell phone back into his pocket and walked towards the table.

"I don't think that'd be a good idea, they've cut off all communications and if Angel did indeed succeed and his soul is permanent then I doubt that they'd want anyone calling them up and interrupting their fun, we can handle this on our own," Kate replied with a very serious and almost angry frown on her face as she straightened her collar.

"Having a great warrior like Angel on our side would be most helpful in defeating these demons that vex us so," Groo interjected with an excited and invigorated smile on his face as he looked up from the file that he had been looking through.

"We're not getting Angel, we can do this on our own, next week is this units one year anniversary and sure Angel has helped us out on a lot of cases and sure it'd be nice if he were here now, but he's not and he won't be, so let's just all calm down and get to work," Kate replied with a frustrated and anxious expression on her face as she stacked all of the files back into a neat stack and then picked them up.

"I wish it were that easy, we're running out of time before the people of this city learn that there's a demon killing people at random and that the police have no leads and no suspects of any kind other than a race of possibly extinct demons that can appear and disappear at will, not a good outlook," Wesley replied with a serious look on his face as he pushed his and Faith's chairs back in and then looked to Willow.

"Maybe we're not dealing with a whole herd or tribe of demons, maybe it's just one that somehow got lost and found its way here, that would explain why none of my hotspots panned out and why there haven't been more deaths," Willow offered up with a slightly confused but hopeful look on her face before scowling at her inability to get a signal and snapped her cell phone back shut.

"That would actually make things worse, at least if we were looking for a herd or group of these demons then they would be relatively easy to find as their attacks would form a pattern, but a single demon moving unnoticed through a city this size could hide anywhere, it could even be here in the room with us right now and we wouldn't even know it," Wesley replied with an uncomfortable frown on his face as he relayed some of his worries about the possibility of there only being one demon instead of a large group of them.

"Willow…Oz, I want you two to make sure that that demon can't get in here without us knowing about it," Kate said with a very commanding and frustrated tone to her voice before she turned and left the room.

"Okay, but only after I make sure that Tara is okay," Willow replied with an anxious and fearful look on her face before she tried to make the call again.

"We'll get right on it," Oz added with a slightly nervous smile on his face as deep down he wasn't completely sure that they would be able to accomplish the task that Kate had given them. He had no doubts that Willow had enough magical power and control to perform the spell but he was worried that the spell would end up being to risky or dangerous to Willow in some way. Several minutes later, after having successfully contacted the daycare and made sure that Tara was safe, Willow walked into the squad room with a large dark blue book in her hands and announced that the station would be demon free in no time.

111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111

"Maybe we should call B, she might know someone that could help us," Faith said with a concerned look on her face, as she sat on the floor with Dominic in her lap holding a teddy bear up for him, as she looked back over her shoulder at Wesley sitting on the couch with an ancient tome in his lap.

"I doubt it, Giles wouldn't be able to tell us anything that I don't already know or couldn't find in one of my books, the Tavivosh demons are not a very studied lot, unfortunately," Wesley replied with a tired look on his face before he reached over and carefully dragged the bright pink blanket back over Hope as she lay curled up asleep against one of the armrests of the couch.

"There has to be something that we can do, Hope and Dominic aren't going to daycare until we find and kill this thing, and we can't both stay home and watch them until then either," Faith countered with a fiercely determined expression on her face as she turned her head and looked straight at the television while giving Dominic a tight hug.

"We can't let the fear control us Faith," Wesley said with a grim look on his face as he let out a small sigh and rubbed his tired eyes.

"I'm not letting anything control me, I'm worrying about our children, as you should be," Faith said with an almost indignant scowl on her face as she twisted her upper body around to look back at Wesley, using her free hand stretched out behind her to prop herself up.

"Hey now," Wesley retorted with a surprised and somewhat hurt look in his eyes as he instantly looked up from the passage that he had been trying to translate.

"Sorry, it's just that I don't do well with the wait and see and have faith approach, I'm more accustomed to killing things outright," Faith said back with a regretful expression on her face as she hated snapping at Wesley but her fear for her children's safety was beginning to consume her.

"I understand, you, Hope, and Dominic are what's important to me in life, I don't care about anything else but you, that being said the demon or demons do not seem to be attacking anyone that is a member of a crowd, and so far all of the victims are adults, that suggests that they're not looking for a child's soul," Wesley replied with a very heartfelt and concerned look on his face as he set the tomes down on the couch beside him and slid off of the edge and onto the floor before pulling Faith and Dominic onto his lap. Faith leaned back into him and laid her head in the crook of his neck while Dominic held up his teddy bear with a big smile on his face.

"Let's hope that continues, maybe we should have Hope and Dominic go stay with Buffy and Spike instead, that way Hope and Joyce can play together and they can both be safe," Faith offered with a hopeful smile on her face as she looked up in to her husbands eyes.

"I think that they might be on vacation this week, but if they're not that would be a good idea, at least until we get rid of this problem, though in the future we're going to have to come up with a new plan, every time that the city is threatened we can't send our children away," Wesley replied with an optimistic look on his face as he lightly shrugged his shoulders and gave Faith a tight squeeze.

"Good, I'll call B in the morning, let's hope they're not on vacation, I'll feel a lot more relaxed once Hope and Dominic are out of harms way," Faith said with a sincere look of concern on her face before she beamed a warm smile back at Dominic, who calmed down a bit and seemed to have understood that what his parents were talking about was something sad and serious.

"Me to, but if they are I'm going to call Fred and Gunn and ask them to come home early," Wesley added with a serious look on his face as he reached out and softly tickled Dominic under his chin, receiving a small giggle for his efforts.

"You think they'll mind," Faith asked with a lightly concerned look on her face as she laid her head back on Wesley's shoulder and looked him straight in the eye.

"Not in the least, if I know Gunn he's probably looking for any excuse to come back to LA, and this would be the perfect one, Fred wouldn't be able to say no, you know how she loves Hope and Dominic, they'd jump at the chance," Wesley replied with a sly smirk on his face as he reached an arm around and slid his hand under Faith's shirt and plucked the band of her panties.

"Not now…later," Faith mumbled back very softly into Wesley's ear as she craned her neck up a bit and hoped that Dominic didn't hear her.

"There might not be a later if we don't stop that demon soon," Wesley whispered back into her ear with a solemn frown on his face as rested his chin on her shoulder.

"Don't say that, we'll stop this thing, we always do," Faith stated back with a firm tone to her voice as she leaned far enough to one side to make it so that Wesley had no choice to lift his chin up off of her shoulder and look at her.

"I hope you're right, this things already killed to many, and we're no closer to finding it than we were when we started, some detectives we are," Wesley replied with an unhappy frown on his face before he nuzzled his face into the crook of Faith's neck.

"We're only screwed if we give up, now help me get these two to bed, you get Hope," Faith said with a soft but serious tone of voice as she slipped out of Wesley's grasp and then stood up with Dominic in her arms.

"Your wish is my command," Wesley replied softly with a mock salute and cheesy grin on his face before he stood up, walked over to the couch, and scooped up a now half asleep Hope into his arms before he turned and followed Faith.

"Got that right," Faith whispered softly under her breath with a concerned look on her face as she walked into the children's room and squatted down long enough to turn on the night light before setting Dominic down in his crib and then turning back the covers of Hope's bed.

111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111

He calmly walked around the latest crime scene, the file open in his hands, desperately searching for something that could help him. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Like most alleys in Los Angeles it was far from clean, though nothing that he found gave him any indication of what had happened. The large trash bins had their lids closed as they were full and waiting for garbage day. Many separate trash bags made a mini mountain nearby and only the chalk outline of the body differentiated this alley from any other in the city.

When he had left home Faith had made him promise to call and check in every hour on the hour. She had taken Hope and Dominic to Sunnydale to stay with Buffy and Spike but swore that she would help him with the search before the day was over. Cordelia had unexpectedly called in just after he had left home and by the summary that Willow gave him of the call Wesley was pleased that Angel had indeed met with the demon and his soul had become permanently his, with no total happiness clause to worry about. He had to fight himself to not laugh at the excitement that he could hear in Willow's voice as she talked about how happy Cordelia had been during the call. Cordelia had asked about the situation with the Tavivosh demon but Willow had performed brilliantly and fed her a line about them being able to handle it and that she and Angel had no need to hurry back. Willow had said that in the background she could hear Angel asking Cordelia to ask Willow if Connor and Jocelyn were alright. It took Willow only a few words to reassure Angel that Connor and Jocelyn were indeed alright and that they wished him and Cordelia the very best of time in Africa.

In fact he had become so deep in thought about remembering the phone call from Willow that he did not hear the rustle of the papers behind him until it was too late. He cursed himself for being caught off guard as he stood up and drew his weapons, only getting them out halfway before he knew that he hadn't been fast enough. Hovering in front of him, barely visible, stood the imposing Tavivosh demon. The afternoon light glinted off of its golden eyes and pale white skin. Knowing what was more than likely to come Wesley raised his weapons just in time to get one shot off before his soul was drained from his body. As he crumpled to the ground, dropping his guns along the way, Faith's scream of shock and horror rang out through the alley.

END OF CHAPTER 9


	10. Tick, Tock

YOU'RE OUT 

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Hope and Dominic.**

**CHAPTER 10-TICK TOCK**

24 Hours and Counting…

She laid on the bed sobbing uncontrollably into the pillows. The only man that she had ever truly loved now lay in a body bag in the morgue. The memory of those last few seconds kept playing over and over again in her mind. A large part of her swore that any minute now he would walk through the bedroom door and take her up in his arms and reassure her that everything would be alright. But when she would open her eyes he wouldn't be there, only empty space and hollow words spoken by friends in the hopes of comforting her.

23 Hours and Counting…

"What are we going to do," Kate asked with a very impatient scowl on her face as she glared around the table at those assembled.

"We have to find that thing and kill it, before the window is up and we lose Wesley forever," Oz replied with a very grim frown on his face as he took a deep breath and tried not to dwell on the gravity of what he had said.

"Do we have any leads," Groo asked with a uncomfortable look on his face as he silently wished that the problem was as easy as hacking something to death rather than trying to find an invisible creature in a city the size of Los Angeles.

"Unfortunately no, and I don't think that I need to say it but time is of the essence here," Kate replied with an unhappy and nervous frown on her face as she sifted through the disorganized mountain of files on top of her desk, hoping that one of them would miraculously give her the answer that she was seeking.

"What if we went back to where it attacked Wesley and," Willow started to say with a hopeful and optimistic look on her face before Kate cut in angrily.

"That won't work, we've already established that the demon never strikes in the same spot twice, it's already long gone, the only ray of hope that we have is if the tech boys and girls can get anything off of that hair sample that we found at the sight of the attack," Kate interjected with an upset scowl on her face before she calmed down just a bit and forced herself to speak slowly.

"Wait a minute, that hair really could be the key to saving Wesley, if I could figure out some sort of tracking spell using the hair then we just might have a chance," Willow exclaimed with a very suddenly excited smile on her face as she bolted up to her feet and turned quickly from Oz to Kate and then back to Oz.

"What do you mean," Oz asked with a confused but invigorated and hopeful expression on his face as he stood up beside Willow and laid a hand on her shoulder.

"Come on, I'll explain on the way," Willow quickly replied with an anxious look on her face before she feverishly collected her books and then raced out of the room, leaving Oz to have to run to keep up.

20 Hours Left…

"Is this going to work," Kate asked with an unconvinced look on her face as she turned to Willow and frowned.

"We'll find out soon enough, okay Willow we're all set," Oz replied at first with a nervous shrug of his shoulders before he turned to Willow and gave her the thumbs up sign. Across the room Willow nodded her head and then began to cast the spell, only glancing up at Oz a couple of times before a spot on the map that was laid out in front of her caught on fire. Kate immediately started to turn to grab the fire extinguisher but Oz grabbed her arm and pulled her away, asking her with his look to stay calm. Kate was about to wrench her arm free when the fire went out just as suddenly as it had started, leaving only a small hole in the map and a grinning Willow behind.

"It worked…yes, that's where we'll find the Tavivosh demon, how many hours left," Willow exclaimed triumphantly at first with an excited smile on her face before she remembered why she had done the spell in the first place and turned to Oz.

"Enough, come on lets go," Oz replied with a nervous and even a bit scared tone to his voice as he checked his watch before he turned and raced out of the room, heading for the squad room.

15 Hours Left…

"Are you sure we're in the right place," Oz asked with a concerned look on his face as he looked around the old warehouse and saw nothing.

"The spell worked Oz, this is the right place, it's here…somewhere," Willow grumbled back with a sarcastic pout on her face as she momentarily looked over at Oz before returning her gaze to scan for any sign of the creature. She hoped that she would be able to sense its aura while it was still invisible, thereby giving them a leg up on it.

"Okay people look alive, this thing could be anywhere, it won't become visible until right before it attacks, anyone see anything don't waste the time to tell us, just fire," Kate ordered the other officers loudly as she drew her own gun and scanned the ceiling of the building before Willow added her bit.

"But be sure that you're not aiming at anyone before firing, we don't want to lose anybody," Willow added with a very serious look on her face as she pulled her own gun and clicked the safety off.

"You try not to lose anyone you're going to lose everybody," Faith stated blankly, without even the slightest hint of emotion in her voice or expression on her face as she suddenly appeared in the warehouse's open doorway.

"Faith, what are you doing here," Oz exclaimed in a harsh whisper as he spun around and saw her standing there.

"Saving my husband, you got a problem with that," Faith growled back with an angry scowl on her face as she drew a wicked looking axe out from behind her back and stepped over the bottom part of the door and into the warehouse.

"No…no problem at all," A scared and nervous looking officer said as she slowly backed away from Faith and made sure to give the slayer a wide berth.

"Alright everyone, let's do this," Kate said softly with a very serious look on her face as she turned away from looking over at Faith to start her search, with an intense looking Groo at her side

They split up into teams, Willow and Oz slowly made their way down the north wall while Kate and Groo took the south wall. The majority of the other officers fanned out through the large empty space in the middle. Faith spat out a joke under her breath before she gripped her axe tightly an slowly crept up the stairs towards the second story, hoping to come face to face with the demon and not have one of the officers get to it first. Even though they were all moving slowly it didn't take any of the teams long to make their way down the walls and to the other end of the warehouse. When they got there the lead officers in the middle turned and looked to Kate and Willow to ask what to do. First Willow and then Kate used a simple hand gesture to tell the officers to stay calm and keep fanning out over their area, hoping that they'd get lucky. Faith on her own upstairs hadn't had any better luck, slowly becoming more and more angry as she went without encountering the demon.

She was just about to turn around and go back downstairs when she glanced down towards her feet and saw the demon through the hole in one of the floorboards, it's tentacles wrapped tightly around one of the building's main beams. She stayed silent as she watched it, carefully watching Willow and Kate and the others on the base floor like a casual spectator at a major sporting event. Just when Faith was about to strike she saw the demon loosen its grip on the beam and start to slide down it. It hadn't gone to far when one of the officers spotted it and started to fire. Though the officer was far to green and to nervous to aim correctly as his bullets missed hitting the demon completely and pinged harmlessly against the other beams.

Grinding her teeth Faith ripped open a hole in the floor while hearing the sounds of the officers screaming and shouting and bullets going off. She didn't take the opportunity to check to see where Kate or Willow were but inwardly hoped that they were alright. After finally wrenching away the last board Faith climbed up to the edge of the hole, gripped her axe firmly with one hand, and then leapt onto the same beam as the demon, barely keeping from slipping. At first the demon was to concerned with not getting shot to notice Faith's actions, but just as she was about halfway to it the demon looked up and she could see it bare its teeth at her and start to scramble back up the beam towards her, murder in it eyes.

"Suck on this shit-face," Faith growled with an almost insane sneer on her face as she let go of the beam and went into a freefall. Thanks to her slayer training she was able to tightly grip the axe and get one swing off, severing the demon's head from its body. Her time to celebrate was limited as she physically collided with the demon on her way down before physically bouncing off of it and then plummeting towards the ground. The only thing that she could do was cover up her face and turn to the side, casting the axe far away, before she crashed through a stack of several wooden pallets. She could feel each and every splinter as she fell, crashing through them one at a time until somewhere in the middle of the stack her force of her fall wasn't enough and she crashed to a stop. She could tell that she probably had a couple of broken ribs and she looked like shit but Faith dragged herself out of the pile of pallets and coughed up some blood just as the officers whose souls had been drained by the demon began to come to.

From the look on Willow's face Faith knew that her injuries were probably severe, but at that moment her injuries were the least of her worries. Faith violently flung away any and all officers that tried to help her up before she wiped the blood oozing from her mouth off on her sleeve and staggered back towards the door of the building. Willow could barely choke her name out before she disappeared out of the door.

13 Hours Left…

He instantly recognized the ceiling of The Hyperion when he opened his eyes. Almost as quickly he howled in shock and covered his face, rolling off of the gurney and crashing to the floor. Hissing in pain he slowly pushed himself up until he was seated. He looked all around and didn't recognize any of the officers that were all to startled at his sudden movement to do anything more than stare openmouthed at him.

"Will someone tell me what the hell is," Wesley started to growl with a completely confused scowl on his face before he felt her more than heard her. He snapped his head around and saw Faith limping into the old hotel, all bloodied up with tears in her eyes. With tears welling up in his own eyes he shakily got to his feet, using the gurney for support, before he began to lurch towards Faith while she did the same towards him. They met in the middle, and after some hesitation where Faith hesitantly reached out and touched him to make sure that he was real, Faith forcefully pulled Wesley down into one of the sweetest kisses that she would ever have in her life. When they finally broke it off to take in some air Faith looked up at him with tears cascading down her cheeks.

"You ever do this again and I'll…I'll," Faith started to stutter back with an angry scowl on her face before her emotions overwhelmed her and she pulled Wesley back into another kiss.

"I'll never leave you again," Wesley finally whispered softly to Faith as they changed from kissing to a powerful hug, one that Faith could barely keep from crying out at the pain of being squeezed, before she pulled back slightly and grinned.

"I'm going to hold you to that, because our shitty luck has struck again…I'm pregnant," Faith said with an almost threatening scowl on her face at first before she couldn't help but grin like a giddy school girl at the end.

END OF CHAPTER 10


End file.
